Escape to a Safe Place
by SkyBenny10
Summary: Frisk isn't particularly fond of her family and her home. So when she discovers the existence of Monsters, she decides to explore Mt. Ebott to see them. But when she wants to stay with them, fate has a way of nudging her forward. And then with the interference of otherworldly forces... things will get out of hand to say the least. (Pacifist Chara)
1. Voices and Ghosts

_"I hate you!"_

_Those were words that Frisk hears constantly from her parents. Again and again, they would pester her, as if they were trying to drill those words into her mind._

_To their discredit, Frisk could say a lot of that stuff back to them at it would apply to them more than it would to her. It would just result in a slap and a smack or two._

_It didn't hurt at all because she was strong, but those acts of physical violence bother her way too much emotionally. More than it should._

_To keep her spirits high, she would study history a lot. Human backstory always intrigued her, even the most simple events or such could have her talking for hours._

_Yet, when she asked about the history of Monsterkind, everyone rolled their eyes at her. It's like they thought the monsters were a myth or something._

_It always annoyed her. Reading about the Monsters gave her high hopes, and filled her dreams with whatever she could imagine. She imagined they were animals with the abilities and biology of a human, or something similar. She dreamed about them a lot, maybe a bit too much._

_There was only one photo from a history book that had a Monster in it. It was a goat person with a trident in his hands._

_What confused Frisk even more was how there was apparently a huge war between Monsters and Humans. Obviously, the Humans had won and banished all Monsters into an underground area._

_So if there was a war about it, why would everyone just FORGET about it?!_

_All the teachers in her class that would read history books out loud would just skip over all pages regarding Monsters, and nobody was bothered by it, aside from Frisk._

_One day, she was in her room, quietly reading about the tales of Mt. Ebott from a book she borrowed from the library. There wasn't much to read though other than the fact that those who go there never return._

_In that moment, she immediately thought of a theory. What if the Monsters were inside of Mt. Ebott?_

_No. It couldn't be. She liked watching this sort of detective show where this person makes the weirdest "assumptions" between items or people and prove that there is a connection there. But this theory would make those theories look like common knowledge._

_She tried to discard the theory she had just made. 'It's impossible, there's no correlation. Barely any evidence. It's impossible. It's impossible. Impossible...' She kept telling herself._

_...and then she recalled one of the most motivating things she heard in her life._

_"If you truly believe that something is indeed impossible, then prove it. Show your family, your friends, your town, your city, your pets. Show the world that it's impossible. Prove to __**yourself **__how impossible it is."_

_"Along the way, you might even realise that you were wrong."_

_"-that you were wrong..."_

_Frisk suddenly perked up, filled with DETERMINATION. She looked at the TV that she heard the quote from and smiled happily._

_The Monsters in her dreams had always been kind and sincere to her. So maybe it's foreshadowing? Maybe they're as nice down there?_

_Frisk couldn't hide her excitement to anyone even if she tried. She was now set on one thing. She would visit Mt. Ebott and find out if the Monsters truly exist._

_Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice called out in her head._

_"Child, you know how the saying goes. Those who Adventure to Mt. Ebott never return. This applies to you too." The voice was almost like an echo, yet it felt so close to her._

_"Well, maybe those people were really attached to the Monsters who are down there and didn't want to leave?" Frisk responded. "Oh, and don't call me 'Child' because I'm sixteen years old."_

_"__**I CAN ASSURE YOU HUMAN, THOSE MONSTERS ARE HEARTLESS CREATURES WHO WANT NOTHING MORE THAN THE DESTRUCTION OF HUMANS."**_

_"How would you know such a thing?" Frisk asked. The voice suddenly growled at her, sounding irritated. "Thought so. Hey, who even are you by the way? And how are you here?"_

_The voice hissed. "That information is need to know, and right now..._ _**YOU DON'T."**_

_Frisk crossed her arms. "Are you sure? Since you're invading the personal space of mine which is my mind, I feel as though I have a right to know why you're here..."_

_**"NO, CHILD. I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY OR WHAT YOU THINK! I AM ROYALTY! I DESERVE TO BE TREATED WITH RESPECT! DO NOT GO TO MT. EBOTT, UNDERSTOOD?!"**_

_Frisk rolled her eyes, even though this voice probably couldn't see her. "Uh-huh, sure you are."_

_**"IF YOU DARE DEFY MY ORDERS, YOU WILL REGRET IT!"**_

_She recalled something she thought of earlier. "Oh yeah, prove it then."_

_**"OH YEAH?! LET ME PROVE IT! THERE'S THAT DISAPPOINTMENT OF A PROFESSOR, WHO COULDN'T DREAM OF LIVING UP TO MY BRILLIANCE! THAT STUPID WOMAN I REPRODUCED WITH TO CREATE THE TWO LITTLE RATS WHO WOULD BE MY UNDOING!"**_

_**"SPEAKING OF THEM! YOU'LL NEVER WANT TO MEET THOSE TWO! THAT BIG, ANNOYING LITTLE DEVIL WHO JUST SPEAKS SO DAMN LOUDLY AND IS SUCH A CHORE TO LOOK AFTER! AND THEN THAT LITTLE RAT! THAT LITTLE BRAT! HE HAD THE RIGHT TO DO THAT TO ME IN MY LAB?! MY LAB?!"**_

_Frisk couldn't be smiling more than she was currently. She felt so proud about fooling a voice in her mind to spill the beans about something she wanted to know about._

_...okay, when she thought of it like that, she couldn't deny it sounded crazy._

_But it seems as though the voice realised too, because it gasped loudly and then stayed quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time. That silence just confirmed Frisk's suspicions._

_She was more than ready to just waltz out the front door of her house and go to Mt. Ebott, which was thankfully somewhat close to her. Wouldn't be a long journey there. The journey __**through**_ _it however, would take a while._

_Before she thought about leaving the house, she considered how hurt her family and friends could be if she left without a notice. She didn't have any friends that still lived in her area though, so she just thought of her family._

_"You'll never amount to anything." She recalled her mother's words._

_"Such a disappointment..." She recalled her father's words._

_Yeah, they definitely wouldn't miss her._

_And she wouldn't miss them, either._

* * *

Frisk now stood in front of a huge hole. A hole that led into something, hopefully somewhere nice and safe and pleasant. Of course, it wouldn't come without a lot of pain, because there was no safe way down without jumping.

**"Is this really worth it, child?" **The voice from earlier spoke again, slightly startling Frisk.

Frisk thought about his words, not questioning why he was in her head because of what happened last time.

She really did let her optimism steer her towards this place, didn't she? Well, it's not like she was complaining. It was more pleasant out here than it was back at home with her parents, even though the weather was very snowy.

Again though, it was that warm and fuzzy feeling inside of her that kept her going. It made her feel warmth within the depths of the cold.

"I've gone too far now to think about going back, haven't I?" Frisk asked. The voice seemed to be in thought.

**"I suppose so." **The voice didn't seem like it was going to try and convince Frisk to leave. How could it? Her DETERMINATION was far too much for him to try and stop by talking.

The voice suddenly sounded a little anxious. **"Before you go in, if anyone asks about me, do not tell them anything, got it?"**

"I don't know why people would ask me about you anyways. 'Oh hey Frisk, who's that person inside your head?' 'Ah, him? That's just a person in my head. Pretty self-explanatory.' It sounds a bit strange." Frisk remarked in a joking manner.

**"How did you- sorry, WHY did you refer to me as a 'him'?" **The voice was in pure and utter disbelief.

Come to think of it, she had calling them that...

Frisk scratched her head. "Just some instincts I guess? Something in my heart tells me that I have to say that."

The voice muttered a few times, still in shock. Then they mumbled softly. **"An interesting coincidence..."**

Frisk looked down at the entrance to the underground again and prepared herself for the jump that was about to come. "Are you ready for this, Mr. Voice Person? I don't want to cause any harm to you."

Her words confused him for a moment. **"Uh, yes? I'm ready..."**

Without a second thought, she leaped into the air and fell into the hole. She closed her eyes, preparing for impact. All she could remember afterwards was a loud thud and then darkness...

* * *

_"Hey, did you hear that?"_

_"No, I didn't hear anything."_

_"Hello? Is anyone there?" A voice called out, getting closer and closer. A small outline of a goat monster could be seen._

_"Oh no! Look! Someone fell down here!" They shouted to someone._

_"Are you hurt? Here, let me help you." They held out a paw towards the figure lying on the bed of flowers. He picked them up and held them up, making sure they don't trip._

_"What's your name?"_

_The figure could barely mutter out a response._

_"Chara, huh? That's a nice name."_

_"My child! Are you okay?! Is that human controlling you?"_

_"No, mom. They're hurt. We should get them checked up."_

_The human lifted their head to look at the goat. They had some tears in your eyes._

_"Oh! I didn't tell you my name, did I?" The goat sheepishly scratched his head. "My name is-"_

* * *

Frisk eyed her surroundings. A lot of dirt, and some light from above. There was some flowers underneath her, a little pathway in front of her, and behind her was another human slumped up against the walls of the cavern. They seemed lifeless.

"Hello?" She muttered, her body weak from the fall she had just taken. Something started to stir within the other human for a second.

Despite the seething pain they were feeling, Frisk stood up and limped towards the other human.

"A-are you hurt?" Frisk managed to stammer out. Small breathing could now be heard. Frisk put a hand on the human and shook them slightly.

"...please leave me alone, Asriel. I'll be fine."

Frisk jumped up. "Hey! Are you okay?" She asked again. Something about her voice confused the other human, causing them to open one of their eyes.

"Oh. I'm here?" A female voice asked with confusion. "Did you just fall down in this place?"

"Er, yes? Who are you?"

The human, who Frisk realised was a female, ignored their question. "Where's Asriel and my parents?"

"Who?"

"Asriel! My family. The goats? Do you know them?" Chara asked.

Frisk thought that either she was forgetting something or this person had some imaginary friends. Or maybe they were talking about Monsters?

"No clue. I landed down here and just now woke up." Frisk explained. The human in front of them sunk down slightly.

"Oh." She looked around tiredly. "Well, uh... don't waste your time talking to me. Any minute now and... huh?"

She started moving her body around, then studied her own arms and legs for a minute. Then they stood up, looking surprised.

"Guess they cured me?" She asked herself. Then she realised Frisk was staring at them, probably confused.

"Oh, my name is Chara by the way. Sorry about that earlier. I was just... tired I guess." Chara lied.

Frisk shot them a re-assuring smile, which was good enough for Chara. She looked around and tried to move backwards slightly to give Chara some space, without realising that it would hurt them to move in her current condition.

A loud crack could be heard from Frisk's body as she knelt down on the ground, barely able to support herself. Chara instinctively rushed over to help them.

"You're probably hurt real bad. Here, I'll help you." Chara tried picking up Frisk, but their hands went right through her, confusing both of them.

She studied her hands again, making sure nothing was wrong with them. Nothing seemed off...

"Thanks, but I will be okay." Frisk slowly raised themselves off the ground and gave a thumbs up, their face wincing in pain slightly.

Chara wasn't paying attention to her however, as she was still focused on her hands. Frisk tried touching her hands, but Frisk's finger went right through them.

They both looked at each other, uncertainty in their eyes.

"Okay, so there's two answers to this." Chara started. "Either I'm a ghost, you're a ghost... or the secret third option... we're BOTH ghosts!" She jumped forward, startling Frisk. Chara laughed lightly.

"Well, why don't you try going through a wall?" Chara joked. Frisk gave them an unamused look, which in return made Chara glare at them playfully. "No, seriously. Try it."

Frisk cautiously walked over to the nearest wall, making sure she doesn't fall. Then she slowly moved her hand towards it with her finger pointing forward. She was doing it so slow, Chara felt the need to gesture as if she were doing a drum roll.

Then she pressed her finger against it, feeling the sturdiness of the wall. Frisk then looked over at Chara, who just punched the wall swiftly. Her fist disappeared into it.

"I guess it's me then." Chara concluded. "That does explain a lot though... but why can _you _see me then?" She eyed Frisk.

"I don't know. Maybe it's destiny or something." Frisk couldn't think of a better or more appropriate answer. She didn't have much experience with talking to people and having genuine conversations with them.

"Ah yes, destiny. Of course!" Chara sarcastically tapped their head. "Why didn't I think of that?" She smirked.

Frisk couldn't help but laugh at her response. "You don't seem too bothered by the fact that you're a ghost."

"Don't you mean... awfully _boo_-thered?" Chara quickly replied. Frisk rolled her eyes at them.

"Was that a pun? That was terrible." Frisk's voice sounded cold yet her face had a small smile on it.

"It wasn't terrible! Look at that grin! You liked it." Chara pointed out, crossing her arms teasingly. "You remind me a lot of Papyrus."

Frisk tilted her head. "Who is Papyrus?" She asked. Chara looked at her before her smile faltered.

"Oh, right. You haven't been acquainted with them yet. Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone here." She ran over to a hole in the wall and went through it.

"Wait, everyone? Do you mean there's people down here?"

Chara nodded in response.

"Are those people... Monsters?" Frisk leaned forward slightly, eyes drooling with anticipation.

Chara nodded again.

Without a second thought, Frisk jumped up and down happily, forgetting about her pain. She rushed over to the hole in the wall and crawled through it, her excitement overwhelming her.

On the other side was a small hallway that had a doorframe(?) at the end of it, which probably led to some other place. The two started walking towards it at a steady pace.

"So, you know your way around this place?" Frisk decided to strike up a conversation.

"Yep! This is the back-room to the Throne Room. My father is a king, believe it or not."

Frisk thought back to what that voice in her head told her when he was angry. _Maybe that was Chara's father? No, that wouldn't make any sense..._

"Oh, nice." Frisk gave a simple reply. It didn't bother Chara much. "Got any brothers or sisters?" She asked.

"I have a brother! He's such a goofball and a lot of fun to be around. I'm like a big sister to him."

Frisk watched her ghost companion's movements. "I'm guessing that's who you were trying to talk to earlier? Asriel or something?"

Chara's face shifted slightly. "Yes, that's him. Speaking of which, I wonder if he will be able to see me too..." She trailed off.

Little did she know, she was about to get an answer for that.

When they turned the corner, they saw a tiny bit of sunlight shining down through a small crack in the ceiling, which was REALLY far above them. It projected down onto a small flower with a face on it.

"Howdy!" The flower suddenly spoke, scaring Frisk. Chara waved at them peacefully. "Howdy to you too! Haven't seen you around before." She gave a friendly smile.

The flower seemed to ignore her as he faced towards Frisk, not even glancing over at Chara. "I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower! You've never been around these parts before, have you?"

Chara's face saddened by the flower's ignorance. _Guess that flower doesn't see me._

"There's nobody around here to help you, too. So, guess I'll have to help you learn how things work around here!"

Flowey's face then became horrifying and distorted. "**IN THIS WORLD, IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED. AND YOU... ARE ABOUT TO BECOME THE LATTER.**"

A swarm of pellets surrounded the two humans. Frisk immediately covered their eyes, while Chara took a defensive stance. The pellets got closer and closer, until...

...they suddenly vanished.

Frisk looked back at the flower to see an evil smile plastered on their face. "Haha! You should have seen your face." She sighed in relief, thinking it was a prank or something.

"Actually, you know what? I'm gonna spare you for now... I'll just get you later." Flowey's smile widened immensely. "I'll get to see that horrified look on your face again. That's such a treat." He chuckled, before disappearing into the ground.

Frisk and Chara both looked at each other, unsure of what happened. "I haven't seen him before." Chara answered Frisk before she even said what she was going to ask.

"Oh, and don't listen to that guy. The folks down here are pretty nice. I was surprised at how kind they were to me when they first saw me." She explained.

They wanted to believe Chara's words, but something about that flower's eyes... Frisk wasn't completely certain. Those eyes looked like they were partially lying, but also partially truthful...

Chara's face shot up, as if she realised something. "Oh! That reminds me. I haven't heard your name yet, have I?"

"I'm Frisk."

"Well, uh... nice to meet ya Frisk. Might be a bit late for that though." Chara scratched the back of her head, feeling embarrassed.

"It's fine, Chara. I'm sure we'll be great friends." Frisk responded happily. Chara smiled in response and they continued walking for a bit.

Behind where the flower was, there was another doorframe that led to a bunch of purple flooring and staircases.

Frisk heard a small mumble from Chara. "Wait... where's the Throne Room?" She sounded like she was talking to herself.

It didn't seem as everything was going accordingly, based on Chara's expression...

* * *

_**To be continued...**_

_**Thanks for reading Chapter One of this fic. I started writing this because I was bored, so please excuse the rough edges, if there is any! **_

_**This fic was inspired a bit (or a lot, I should say) by another fic called 'Hopes, Dreams, and Determination' by 'Dragonsrule18' so go give that fic and their other stuff a read, since some of the other fics they've made are really good! They write some really cute one-shots too!**_

_**Plus, the fic they made actually made me a fan of the SansxChara ship, which I didn't really like that much before. ._.**_

_**If you like this fic so far, let me know! Reviews are appreciated. Also, I'm not sure who I want to ship Frisk with. Either Papyrus or Asriel.**_

_**Updates will NOT be constant for this fic, though I will try my best to frequently make new chapters! It takes time to write this many words.**_

_**Again, thanks for reading! Stay tuned.**_


	2. Shadows Cutting Deeper

_Chara's POV_

I could feel the uncertainty in the atmosphere around us, after that encounter we had with the flower. It took me a while to figure out where the Throne Room went, before I realised...

"Oh! This isn't the Castle! This is the Ruins!" I turned to look at Frisk. "This part of the Underground is the Ruins. My family and I went here last week. It's a nice and quiet place."

Frisk was looking at a wall that looked really clean. A lot cleaner than I remember it being. There were cobwebs and dust all over the walls when I came here before...

Now that I think about it, even though I had visited this place last week, it felt like I haven't been here in years.

"So, uh... Chara." Her voice sounded curious. "What was that about earlier? Where you kept looking at your arms and stuff."

Oh... that's right, I remember now...

"Um... so this might be hard to explain... but one moment I was in the Castle, lying on the ground with my brother constantly checking on me to make sure I was okay, and then the next moment I was here?"

"I'm guessing you're not gonna tell me why he was checking on you?"

"No." The word escaped my mouth. I felt as though Frisk was staring at me for a while before shrugging it off.

I don't want to talk about _that _right now.

All that could be heard for a moment was the loud sounds our footsteps- _Frisk's _footsteps made as she walked up the stairway.

"So, uh... why didya decide to come visit Mt. Ebott?" My mind was struggling to think of any topics.

"Life wasn't the greatest for me back at home. Plus I recently found out about the existence of Monsters recently, so-"

"So you ran away from two abusive parents and decided to live life down here?" I interrupted her.

"I wouldn't call them 'abusive' as much as..." Frisk looked like she was in thought for a minute before sighing. "Yeah. Abusive parents."

"Hey, nothin' wrong with that! That's the same reason I came down here!" I tried cheering her up, which seemed to work a little as her mouth went back to a smile.

"Guess we have that in common." She paused for a second. "What was it like for you to live with those types of people then?"

To be honest, I couldn't remember at all. The time I've spent down here was so fulfilling compared to being with those those sad jerks back at home... I even forgot my former parents name.

"I don't remember. It's been so long, and the people down here have been so nice... you kinda just forget about that stuff, really."

"Oh." It didn't seem like that answer satisfied her much. "Well, okay then."

It was a silent walk through the rest of the Ruins. None of the happy and cheery Monsters were around at all, which was starting to confuse me. What happened to the lovely folk who lived here? They were always out and about...

Eventually, we reached a house at the end of the Ruins. "You see that house?" I tugged on Frisk's shirt and pointed at the house. "That's the other house my family owns. If something ever happened to the Castle, we could just live here for a bit."

"Oh, nice." She responded, looking at the house still. Her face shifted left and right, eyeing the place carefully. "Is there someone in there?"

I followed her gaze and saw a slight bit of movement in one of the windows. Someone was at the house?

For a brief moment, I forgot that I was a ghost and tried knocking on the door, only to see my hand go right through it. Whoops.

I peaked my head into the door, scanning both ways. Nobody seemed to be here, so... guess we were just seeing things?

Frisk opened the door behind me, scanning both ways before walking in. The house was dimly lit, and it looked like the light-bulbs were about to give out.

...but hey, guess what? The light-bulbs gave out just as I noticed that. The room was now encased with darkness.

I could hear the fearful mumblings of Frisk move further and further away from me. "Chara? Can you put the lights back on?" She called out to me.

"No. I'm a ghost, remember?"

"Oh yeah... okay, can you lead me to the light switch?" She asked.

"I would if I could!" I shouted, since she was walking further and further away from me.

"What do you mean?" Her voice was practically gone.

"There's no light switch!"

"...Oh." It sounded like she was headed back towards me, which is a relief since I didn't want to spend a few minutes stumbling around in the darkness trying to find them.

...heh. That reminds me of someone.

I tried to see if I could jump up to the light-bulb planted in the ceiling (yes, in the ceiling) but instead I just slowly floated up towards it. Since the layout of this place was similar to the house in the Castle, I knew where to go by memory.

I knew that I couldn't interact with physical objects, but I still tried touching the light-bulb to see if anything worked. But nope. Nothing.

"Frisk, go back outside for a minute so you can see where you're moving." I instructed. There were some footsteps, a few shuffling noises, and then silence.

"Uh, Chara?" Frisk whispered. "Where's the door?"

I floated back over to where we got into the house. "It's right... here?" I found where the door was, but now there was no door. Instead, there was an outline of a door.

Then I realised that since the room was pitch black, the windows were now completely sealed. _What is going on?!_

A faint laugh suddenly rang through the house, and I heard Frisk grunt in pain.

"Frisk, are you okay?!"

_Frisk's POV_

"_Frisk? Hello?!" _I could hear Chara's voice get lower and lower. The earth shook beneath me, making it hard for me to stand up. On top of that, I suddenly have a huge headache...

A faint laugh rang through the house again. I heard Chara gasp.

"I can't get out?! How? I should be able to..."

"**PASS THROUGH WALLS?**"

A light shined on our faces. Now I could see Chara's confused, worried look due to her face being visible. She stared in the direction of the light, suddenly shifting her stance.

I slowly turned my head to face the light. In front of me, I saw a dark figure. He seemed to have some massive cloak on or something, because all I could see was his silhouette. He approached us, lifting his hand and pointing it towards us.

"**AH-HA-HA... YES. IT SEEMS THAT I WAS ABLE TO SLIP THROUGH... BACK INTO THIS REALM.**" The top of their body (which I assumed was their head) looked around for a moment.

"**WHERE THE DARKNESS REIGNS, I CAN SUBSIDE... INTERESTING.**"

A small, purple ball formed inside of their hands. Chara gasped loudly.

"No... is it really...?" She whimpered.

"**HE... HE... HE... YOU'D BETTER BELIEVE IT. NOW... TO DO WHAT I'VE WANTED TO DO FOR SO LONG...**" The ball in his hands grew bigger and made a loud sizzling noise.

"**I SHALL FINALLY COMPLETE THE OPERATION.**" He lifted his hand and clenched it. A purple liquid seeped from his hands down to his body. Then a small, white circle became visible on his body.

Just before he could do anything, the lights suddenly turned back on. The figure was no longer there anymore. and the windows and door had re-appeared.

I heard Chara laugh slightly, looking at a blob on the ground. She stuck her tongue out at it.

"Nyeh! That's whatcha get for monologuing, loser!" She seemed to be rubbing her victory in their face.

Suddenly, something came up the stairs. "oh... sorry... i just wanted to turn the light on... and i ruined your little spooky sleepover with your buddy... sorry..."

"It's okay, Napstablook!" Chara patted them on the back before jumping back in surprise. "Wait, Blooky... can you see me?"

Napstablook studied their outfit carefully. "oh wait... is that you chara... so nice to meet you again..." Chara squealed and pulled Napstablook into a tight hug.

"hehe... nice to see you too... anyways... how's it been as a ghost..." He asked.

"Well, you know... it's been weird. For the five minutes that I've been a ghost."

"huh... but you've been gone... for a while now... why are you only now coming back..."

Chara looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"well... it's been two years since the king gave everyone the news about you and your brother..."

"WHAT?!" Chara jumped up, loosening her grip on Napstablook. "IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS?! WHAT'S HAPPENED? HOW IS THE ROYAL FAMILY?" She looked like she was holding back tears. "What do you mean the news about me and my brother?"

Napstablook started tearing up too. "well... asgore was upset by what happened, so he declared war on humanity... and then queen went missing... plus when your brother finally arrived back... he... he..."

I didn't have a clue what was going on, but Chara was now crying slightly. "He's gone, isn't he? How did this happen..." She started sobbing. "W-what happened in th-those two y-years..." She could barely keep herself together.

Seeing her this upset made me feel awful, like I had done something wrong...

"Hey Chara? Um... are you, uh... okay?" I didn't have a clue on how to comfort her, but I was going to try. She looked up at me, her tears still running down her face.

"Um... so, uh..."

"I-it's okay Frisk." She muttered out. "D-don't worry about me... I can manage myself." Chara slowly stood up, the tears on her face decreasing in number.

"I gotta be strong... Gotta be positive..." She sounded like she was singing to herself.

In an attempt to help her, I tried wiping some of the tears off her face, only to feel a burn on my hands as soon as I did so. I recoiled slightly and winced, causing Chara to laugh.

"Argh!" I grunted, wiping my hand in my shirt to try and stop the burning. Thankfully, it worked.

Chara was still laughing, so I huffed and looked away from her. "Hmph. You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?"

"Maybe." Chara giggled slightly. I couldn't help but smile slightly. "That reaction was definitely worth not telling you though."

"What, were you pretending to cry or something?" I scoffed, jokingly. Within seconds, she seemed to have already forgotten what she was so worked up about.

"No. I was actually crying. But since you did that, you made me cry of laughter." She looked down at her green shirt. "Now my favourite clothes are all soggy 'cause of that. Guess I'm gonna need new ones soon."

As if on cue, the wet spots on her shirt dried up immediately, making it seem like her shirt was brand new. "Wow. Thanks, uh... the ghost clothes drier...?" She didn't seem to know what to say.

In the middle of all this, Napstablook must have left at some point since he was no longer in front of us. _Guess it got too emotional for him..._

Chara gestured towards a set of stairs, signalling me over to them. I followed, and we reached a big creepy door in the basement.

"Uh, Chara?" I spoke. Chara's head immediately looked over at me. "What just happened?"

"Huh?"

"I mean... what just happened... in that house, before we got to the house..." My voice hesitated for a moment. "What got you so worked up?"

Chara's smiled faded after that last sentence I said. "Uh... I don't know. Some flower person came by, threatened us, then left. None of the residents are here..."

"We got to the house. Some dark wizard man attacked us while keeping us trapped inside of his evil vortex or something..." She giggled slightly as she finished the sentence.

"Then one of my pals, Blooky, saves us from the wizard by turning the lights on. So I guess he's a vampire or something..."

"And then my friend told me some news about my family and-" She abruptly finished talking for a moment, hiding her face in her hands. I could hear a small cough come from her.

"Now we're here. I think that's what happened." Chara finished her recap.

"I'm not gonna get an explanation for any of that, am I?" I asked, hoping I was wrong.

"Nah. But you might get answers for some of your questions later on though."

"What makes you say that?" I quickly responded.

"_My vocal cords_." She sarcastically replied. "Any more questions?"

"No, seriously... what makes you say that?" I persisted.

She thought for a moment. "I don't know. Something tells me you'll figure it out along the way."

I sighed, knowing that was probably the best answer I was gonna get from her. Before I reached to open the door, a sharp pain sprung in my head.

Chara didn't notice, thankfully. I didn't want her worrying about me too much. She seemed to have enough on her plate as it is...

"**H-hello?**"

Oh? The voice from before was back again?

"**Listen, if you can hear me...**" They sounded exhausted and disturbed for some reason.

"**Do not step into dimly-lit areas... I lose control of my spirit when that happens, just like when you did that earlier...**"

_Huh? Wait a minute..._

* * *

_**To be continued...**_

_**Oh-ho! Seems like things are escalating quickly. Chara can communicate with other ghosts, it seems? Perhaps. Who was that figure in the house though, I wonder? And what's happened to the Monsters of the Ruins?**_

_**Before the chapter ends, I'd like to clarify something. Frisk and Chara are both 18. Okay, there we go.**_

_**Starting next chapter, I'll be responding to some of the reviews left on this story, if there are any! So if you want to leave a lovely review as feedback, I'd greatly appreciate it!**_

_**Thanks for reading Chapter Two! Stay too-ned (ba-dum-tsss) for the next chapter if you want!**_


	3. Skeletons and 'Wizard Vampires'

_**Before we begin...**_

_**Guess who accidentally messed up? It's me! In the first chapter, Frisk says she's sixteen, but then in the Chapter Two notes, it says she's eighteen. Whoops! (If you're wondering about her actual age, it's sixteen. Not eighteen.) Also, Sans is eighteen and Papyrus is seventeen, in case you're wondering.**_

* * *

_Frisk's POV_

With what had just unfolded in front of me, I felt the urge to ask some- a _lot_ of questions. But it didn't seem Chara was in the mood to answer any of them.

"Okay, so! From what I know so far, other people _might _be able to see me. If Napstablook can see me, then that could mean..." Chara was rambling her thoughts out loud. "Yeah! I'll just ask him about it the next chance I get."

A doorframe that led to a door similar to the one they just went through appeared again. "They really have a thing for these doorframes, huh?" I pointed out.

"Never noticed the amount of these before, but yeah. They do have some obsession with them." Chara remarked.

We reached the next door and stopped in front of it. "Fair warning, once we leave this area... we won't be able to come back here for a bit." Chara warned.

"Why is that?"

"You can only open the door from this side, unless you wanna go through the hassle of wedging it open."

I felt my face flatten a bit. "Oh. So this is a one-way trip?"

"Yeah, but don't worry! The folk down here are super welcoming and kind. I don't know anyone that's in Snowdin, so it'll be a while until we run into some familiar faces."

My head turned to look at Chara. "Snowdin?" I asked, to which Chara replied by pointing at the door.

With a small nudge on the door, a cold breeze found its way into the room instantly. Immediately afterwards, I closed the door reflexively. _Guess that answered my question._

"Alright, are you ready? Let's go!" Chara phased right through the door. I had pulled down my sleeves, which had been rolled up the entire time, and opened the door again.

It seemed like we was outside now, or so it seemed. The air in this area felt less fresh than the air back on the surface. Despite the cold appearance, Snowdin wasn't actually that cold. _Probably warmer than it was above ground right now, anyways._

Chara waited by an opening, tapping her foot patiently. "Are ya gonna appreciate the scenery all day or can we get a move on?" She joked.

"Alright, I'm coming." I walked over to her. While I did so, Chara seemed to realise something.

"Hey, uh... what's up with our similar fashion choices?" Chara asked. I looked down at our clothing. _We were wearing similar clothing, but with different colours._

"Oh yeah, I didn't even notice until now."

Being honest, me and Chara looked a lot similar in certain aspects. Chara was taller than me though, and her face was more expressive than mine.

"Cool." Chara responded simply. We kept walking until we reached a small little gate in the middle of a pathway. The area ahead was closed off due to the bars being placed too close together.

Suddenly, I heard shuffling behind us. Chara immediately turned around and took a defensive stance like before, but then immediately dropped her arms to her side.

" ." A faint voice creeped up behind me. _Was this the same figure from the Ruins?_

"D o n ' ?" Their words were said in a weird tone. It was unsettling, to say the least.

" ." I followed their instructions, terrified. I caught an amused look on Chara's face as I turned around. They were a dark figure, whose height was just below Chara. " ." They held out a hand towards me.

I reluctantly reached out and grabbed their hand, scared that I was about to be ambushed or something. Then I heard a... fart noise.

The dark figure started laughing, and so did Chara. I just stood there, confused. I felt a small little smile find it's way on my face, hearing such genuine laughs.

"Hehe. The ol' whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It's always funny." His voice was suddenly a lot more laidback. "Hey there. You're new around here, right?"

I stumbled on my words for a moment, trying to think of a cover-up story. "Uh, no. I've been here a while. I'm a... snow monster?" _Wish I knew more about the types of Monsters_.

"Don't worry about it, buddy. I know you're a human."

I felt my body shiver slightly, not knowing what this person was going to do. "How did you know?"

"It's simple. I've seen my fair-share of humans before. My best friend was a human, in fact."

Now that this person weren't covered in darkness and using a creepy voice, I could see how they looked. It was a Male, and he wore a blue hoodie with black shorts. Along with that, he had pink slippers on. He also seemed to be wearing gloves.

"I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton." He greeted himself. A gasp escaped my mouth.

"You're a skeleton?!" I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My first proper encounter with a monster was happening right now, and it was a skeleton monster? That's awesome.

"Yep. Don't worry, skeleton isn't my last name." His eyes seemed to look around me while his mouth remained unchanged throughout the conversation. Seems they were able to talk without using their mouth?

"Anyways, what're you doing on this side of the gate? You know why this area is closed off, right?" He asked, curiously.

"No? Why?" I asked.

"Because there's some boney person around here who's making everyone die..." His pupils suddenly disappeared, sending shivers down my spine. I knew what he was hinting at, and I didn't dare to move.

"...of laughter! Because his puns are so good." He winked at me, then started laughing again. Chara, who had been silently watching the situation, starting laughing too.

"Okay, sorry. Shouldn't be scaring you right now." He held out a hand, letting a snowflake fall onto it. "That was pretty _cold _of me."

Chara could barely hold back her giggles. Hearing her laugh was making me laugh though.

"Anyways! Welcome to Snowdin. I should get ya introduced to my brother. I guarantee you'll love him. His checkpoint is just up ahead."

I looked at the gate in front of us. "How do we get past this then?"

"Easy." Sans held out his left hand. "Hold onto my hand, or any part of me, and I'll get us on the other side."

My right hand grabbed onto his without a second thought. "Close your eyes." Sans instructed. I was hesitant to do so, but one little mischievous smile from Chara reassured me that this person probably wouldn't hurt me.

"Now open them."

My eyes slowly opened, expecting some sort of prank. Instead, I saw a big opening. There was a checkpoint station or something, with a lamp next to it.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Sans' hand slipped back into the right pocket of his hoodie, where it had been before. I didn't notice how... strange his body felt. _Wasn't what I was expecting, anyways._

Without thinking or controlling myself, I lifted a finger and swiftly tapped the skeleton's head. It felt a lot different than I was expecting. _You'd think bones would feel a lot harder..._

"Uh, okay then?" He just stared at me, confused. "Say, I haven't heard your name."

"Frisk."

He chuckled slightly. "Well, heya Frisk. I'm sure you and my brother will get along nicely." He started walked forward for a few seconds, then paused. "Huh? Where is he?" I heard him whisper, presumably to himself.

"G-give me a minute. Stay there." Sans told me. Whatever was happening got Chara concerned too, as she floated over to Sans and brought her face up close to his, probably trying to study his expression.

It looked weird how close their faces were. It's like they were kissing, if you weren't looking from the side. Neither of them looked uncomfortable though. Well, that's because Sans doesn't know she was there. But then a tiny tint of blue appeared on Sans' face...?

"Paps! Where are ya, bro?" Sans shouted out. He watched the trees behind the station. After a few seconds of waiting, **Nobody came**.

Sans started shaking slightly, and I could tell it wasn't from the cold wind. "Papyrus?! Hello!?" Again, he shouted. Again, **Nobody came**.

He pulled out a sort of device from his pockets and started tapping it a few times. It looked like something a few people from my classes would use back at home. Then he lifted it and held it up next to his ear, a loud ringing noise emitting from the device.

The blue hue on Sans' face grew. It was noticeable enough for Chara to back away, a worried expression written on her face. After the ringing noise happened five times, he put the device back in his pocket.

Sans cleared his throat, then breathed in and out deeply.

"Hey bro, did the dogs steal the milk again?" He randomly asked. No answer. "Heh, I'm looking for them too." He seemed to be spouting some random story...

"But I just cal-cium anywhere!" He emphasised. I groaned in response, while Chara burst out laughing.

"SAAAAANNNSSS!" A distant shout could be heard throughout the woods. Sans started rushing towards where the voice came from. I quickly followed, along with Chara... even though she wasn't finished laughing yet.

Eventually, the woods got darker and darker the further Sans continued. But as it got darker, a strange blue light emerged from Sans, lighting up the area around us. I could barely see anything, so I just followed the light while narrowing avoiding any trees that were in the path.

When the darkness was too much to bear, Sans stopped. Not moving an inch, he just stared forward. Since I was behind him, I couldn't see what he was looking at. My curiosity caused me to slowly look over Sans' shoulder.

In front of us, the dark figure from the Ruins stood. He looked even more menacing than before. Chara was now frozen in place, like Sans was. _Do they both know this person?_

Out of nowhere, a small yelp could be heard. Sans raised his hand, and a dark blue circle surrounded us. "Give him back."

"**OR ELSE WHAT, SANS? YOU ARE POWERLESS AGAINST ME! MY PRESENCE IS SIGNIFICANT HERE, AND YOU KNOW IT."**

Sans shifted his head back cockily. "Heh. You do have a point. Magic doesn't work, physical attacks don't work, the KR doesn't work..."

He pulled out the device from before and tapped it a bit. A bright light shined from a lens on it, like a flashlight. It hit the dark figure, causing them to instantly disappear.

"Yet a flashlight is your greatest weakness. So, uh... no." He put the device back in his pocket again. "At least you don't have to pay so much for the electricity bills." A slight snort escaped Chara's mouth.

A tall figure dropped onto the floor in front of us. "EH... S-SANS?" Their voice was shaky.

"Bro! You're alright!" Sans hugged him tightly. I could see a soft smile form on Chara's face at the sight. "What happened? How did he get you?"

"I... DON'T KNOW, SANS. THE DOGS STOLE THE MILK AGAIN AND I CHASED THEM THIS TIME AND THEN I RAN INTO HIM..."

"What, seriously?" Sans asked. "I was joking. The dogs actually stole the milk?"

The other person, his brother, sighed loudly. "YES. THEY JUMPED AT THE MILK IN THE TWO SECONDS I HAD THE FRIDGE OPEN." He stood up and started stomping the ground. "WHY CAN'T THEY JUST STEAL THE LEFTOVER SPAGHETTI? I WOULDN'T MIND THEM TAKING SOME!"

Sans chuckled slightly and patted his brother's back, reaching up slightly due to how tall Papyrus was.

_Wait a second... Papyrus? Chara said that I reminded her of someone called Papyrus back in the Ruins..._

"You said that... I remind you of Papyrus?" I asked. She nodded, still looking at the two skeletons. "I don't see the resemblance."

"That's 'cuz you haven't talked to him yet." Chara pointed out. Couldn't argue there...

Sans and Papyrus stopped talking for a moment and looked at us... or rather, me. Papyrus looked at Sans and raised a hand, pointing at me. He received a nod in response. Whatever Papyrus was thinking, Sans already knew it.

"SO YOU'RE A HUMAN?" He asked. I nodded in response. "WOWIE! I APOLOGISE FOR SUCH A BAD FIRST IMPRESSION." Papyrus lowered his head for a moment, then lifted it back up. "BUT I HOPE WE'LL BE GREAT FRIENDS!"

"MY NAME IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BUT YOU CAN CALL ME PAPYRUS! I'M SURE YOU'VE ALREADY MET MY LAZY BROTHER SANS."

Sans lifted a hand and lazily waved it. "Heya."

"WE ARE TWO SKELETON BROTHERS LIVING IN SNOWDIN! WHICH IS WHY WE'RE HERE, OF COURSE. ANYWAYS, UH..." Papyrus trailed off for a second, looking down at the floor. "...WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE?"

"Um..." I wasn't sure how to respond. Thankfully, Sans interrupted the conversation.

"We should get this human introduced to everyone in Snowdin. What do you say, Paps?" He nudged his brother with his elbow.

"YES, OF COURSE!" Papyrus walked over and patted my head. "DO NOT WORRY, LITTLE HUMAN! THE RESIDENTS HAVEN'T SEEN A HUMAN BEFORE, SO THEY'LL PROBABLY THINK YOU'RE A MONSTER." He rushed off, back to where the station was.

"What?" I heard Chara mumble. Sans suddenly placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't mean to scare ya, buddy. But these people don't think highly of humans." Sans tossed me a red scarf that was similar to the one his brother was wearing. "Keep this on, and keep your head down if anyone spots ya."

After blinking once, we were back at the station. I assumed Sans had used his teleportation-like ability again. Papyrus arrived shortly after us.

"SANS! YOU LAZYBONES! STOP IT WITH THE WARPING! YOU NEED TO EXERCISE MORE!" Papyrus' voice was super loud compared to before.

"Sorry bro." He responded.

Chara seemed confused about something. She looked at the skeletons, then at me.

"Why... did he say that?" She started. "What does he mean... the people don't take too kindly to humans?"

* * *

_**To be continued...**_

_**Hey! Chapter three is out, so go read it. Wait a second... you just did! What perfect timing!**_

_**Don't have much to say, so... yeah. Stay tuned for Chapter Four, I guess. Reviews are appreciated!**_


	4. The Words of the Wise

_**Heya! Before we begin, I want to let you know that this chapter is a little different from all the others. What is this chapter about you may ask? Well, this is basically Flashback Central. That's all the information ya get for now.**_

_**Without further delay, here's Chapter Four!**_

* * *

_Chara's POV_

The journey to wherever Papyrus was going... it wasn't the greatest. An uneasy silence lingered over everyone... or rather, me and Frisk.

Sans was walking at a slow pace while Papyrus was basically sprinting ahead. Glad to see those two haven't changed...

"Hey." Frisk clicked her fingers in front of me, trying to catch my attention. My head shifted towards her slightly and I raised an eyebrow at her. "That's the same guy from the Ruins right?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"You seem like you know that guy."

"Good observation." Those words escaped my mouth.

Frisk's face flattened slightly. "Do you?"

A frown formed on my face. "It's a long story. Super weird, too. You wouldn't understand it."

I couldn't tell what she was debating, but Frisk's expression was saying she wanted to call my bluff. Fortunately, she seemed to have decided against that idea.

_Thank Asgore_. I didn't want to have to explain that to her. The explanation would have taken me back to when I first fell into the Underground. Who needs that amount of exposition, anyways?

* * *

_A few years ago..._

"Don't worry, Chara! You'll be okay!" Asriel reassured.

It felt like a million things were happening at once, and I couldn't comprehend any of it. There were many eyes on us along with the fact that we were rushing past things that I could assume were houses.

He looked around for a minute before carefully placing me down on the ground, my back slumped up against a wall of some sort. "Stay here for a minute. Don't talk to strangers, okay?"

I weakly nodded my head. My vision was coming back slowly, and I could see my surroundings more clearly. The floor was a dark blue of some sort, and I was propped up behind a house or something.

A human-like figure walked by. They looked about the same height as me, but had a white hoodie on with very dusty looking shorts. Then they turned and looked at me.

"Oh, uh... heya." They seemed surprised by my presence.

"Don't talk to me... please..." The words stammered out of my mouth. "He... told me not to talk to strangers..." I recited his instructions.

"You just fell down here. Does "he" not count a stranger too?" A hint of sarcasm was in his voice. Then he cleared his throat. "Sorry about that."

He approached me. "Listen... did "he" say something about taking you to a lab or a doctor or something?" I nodded.

"This is very important, so please... if you know what's good for ya... do NOT let Gaster find a moment where it's just the two of you in a room together."

I don't know why, but those words were drilled into my head immediately. There was concern and fear in those words, along with anger, though not towards me. I nodded again, unable to find any words to say. Next time I looked up, he was gone.

A few moments later, Asriel came rushing back. "Sorry for leaving you here! I had to make sure the path ahead was clear since they were doing work on it." He lifted me up in his arms and carried me on his back. "Let's get you there, quickly!"

I repeated the instructions that the person told me over and over again in my head...

* * *

_Later that day..._

The scenery had changed drastically. It was a nice, soothing waterfall area, then some volcanic playground, and now a really creepy looking laboratory.

A door slid open as we approached it. Inside the room was a table and a few chairs off to the side. Some tall figure was waiting next to the table.

"Ah, hello there Prince Asriel. The queen informed me of your arrival." Their tone was unreadable.

Asriel placed me down on the table carefully. Whoever the dark figure was, they seemed surprised.

"Can you help them?" Asriel asked with desperation. I saw a smile appear on the figure's face. It was the least reassuring thing I had seen.

"Most certainly."

Those words struck a few chords, and not in a good way. I could tell something sinister laid behind their backs. The figure left the room for a second, probably to grab something. Asriel was about to leave too, but then I grabbed his arm.

"Please... don't go..." I called out. He looked like he had tears forming in his eyes.

"I- uh- I..." He stuttered. "Okay." He walked over to one of the chairs on the side and sat down. "He doesn't like other people being in here while stuff is happening."

"Why... don't you... hide then..." Something in my head was insisting to not leave me in a room alone with that freak of a lab person.

Then I realised... that figure from before... he was warning me about this person, wasn't he?

"Excuse me..."

Asriel's head perked up slightly. His eyes focused on me.

"Is that guy's name... G-Gaster...?"

A sigh left his mouth. "Yes, that's Gaster. The so-called 'Brilliant Doctor of the Underground' or whatever. I hate that guy though." He admitted.

"Why's that..."

"Don't know. Something about the guy seems off. Probably just my paranoia acting up though..." Asriel's smile faltered. "He has two children, but honestly I would hate that guy if he were my father."

He sounded disgusted with himself for saying such words. A few footsteps could be heard outside the door. Asriel quickly realised and silently hid behind a cabinet filled with bottles of liquids.

"We shall get you fixed up first." The figure, Gaster, walked back into the room. They wore a black cloak on top of a lab coat. Weird combo.

He took out a few bottles, examined some of my body parts, moved a few things here and there. Eventually my body was feeling better again. Not completely healed, but it would be with a bit of time.

"So, you are all better now..." Gaster was facing away from me. "But don't celebrate just yet, child. The only reason I fixed up those wounds is so that I can start experiments on you safely."

_Wha-?!_

A giant metal claw appeared out of his cloak and grabbed me, holding me up by the neck. "Oh yes. This'll be fun. A human all to myself. I can finally advance my studies."

I started shaking. Not sure what to do, I struggled. I tried calling out for help, but my voice had gotten worse.

Then there was a flash of light...

_Snap!_

I dropped to the ground, my hands around my neck. All I could do was breathe heavily due to that _stupid _claw's grip that it had on my neck. Arms were suddenly wrapped around me, lifting me out of the lab. I didn't know what was happening anymore. All I knew was the claw wasn't holding onto me anymore.

I felt like I was going to faint...

...in fact, I did.

* * *

_A few days later..._

"Come on, Chara! Let's go this way!" Asriel waved over to me. He rushed off towards some rushing water with a seed bridge on top of it. We jumped from seed to seed, eventually making it to the other side.

In the few days that I had been here, I had already gotten myself acquainted with some faces around town. I also found myself a family, which was the Dreemurrs. It wasn't really a decisive conclusion, as it was more of a 'sure, let's go with it' kind of thing.

Nobody said a word about it, yet it happened. It's fine though, since they are actually very nice people. Toriel and Asgore were the best parents I've ever had. Asriel was the little brother I've always wanted, though he's been looking out for me more than I have been looking out for him. _Maybe that'll change soon though._

We found a hidden bench with an echo flower next to it. Seems like it was there for no reason...

"Guess our reward for finding such a hidden place is a nice bench to sit on?" I asked. Asriel chuckled, so I continued. "Hey, I wonder who built this bench in the first place?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's the Box Lovers' cousin the Bench Lover?" He replied, causing me to giggle a little.

"Probably!"

We were about to just dive right onto the bench, like we do with the couch at home all the time. But then a voice from nowhere spoke up.

"I could tell you why it's there, if you want."

We paused, frozen in place. Something about that voice seems so familiar...

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare or interrupt you."

Asriel nudged me with his shoulder then pointed at the corner. I saw a figure that was around my height standing there.

"Uh, you okay? Did I scare you that much?" He asked, concerned.

"N-no! It's fine." Asriel tried to reassure him, but didn't sound convincing at all. "Who are you?"

They stepped forward. I could now see them wearing a red hoodie with blue gloves and white shorts. "I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton."

Asriel gasped slightly. "You're one of Gaster's sons?"

"Do not associate me with him please..." Sans groaned slightly. "But yes, I am one of his sons."

Sans then looked at me. "I recognise you. Have we met before?"

"I don't know."

"You're a human, right?" He asked. When I first saw him in the corner, I had hid my face from him to try and mask my identity as a human. Guess it didn't work.

"Y-yes."

"Cool. Do you remember that weirdo with the white hoodie you saw just before you took a trip into Gaster's lab?" He asked.

I could barely remember anything from that day, but I was able to pull up an image from that day. Behind the house, was the person with the white hoodie... about my height...

...oh.

"You're that person, aren't you?" My head was now facing them, so their facial features were now visible. He had white pupils in his eye-sockets with one nice dark blue ring around each pupil, and he had a big smile on his face.

_His head looks like a skull... is he really a skeleton?_

"Yep, that's me." Sans lifted his left hand. "Pleasure to meet ya for real this time." He looked like he was offering a handshake.

Not wanting to be rude, I went to go grab his hand... but then reflexively pulled my hand back. Sans looked hurt by my action.

"Hey, buddo. I'm not gonna bite ya or anything."

"You're trying to catch me with the whoopee cushion-in-the-hand trick aren't you?"

Sans looked absolutely gobsmacked at what I had just said. "What...?" I started feeling bad about what I did. "How did you know?"

_Never mind...?_

"Wait, you were actually going to do that?" I was now as shocked as Sans. He held up his hand and revealed that he was holding a whoopee cushion in it.

"Yep."

"Wow. Can't believe you would do such a thing." I rolled my eyes playfully. That's when I noticed Asriel was glaring daggers at me.

"Chara, How did Sans know about you before we went to Gaster's lab?" He had his arms crossed, frowning at me.

_Crap._

"It was outside the houses, when you left me for a minute to check the pathway or something..."

Asriel's frown deepened. "Didn't I tell you not to talk to strangers just before I left? You could've been in a lot more trouble..."

"Asriel Dreemurr, if it makes you feel any better I can say sorry for talking to them beforehand." Sans spoke up.

"No... it's fine." Asriel dropped his arms. "I can just be glad nothing bad came out of it. Though... what did you even talk about?"

Me and Sans looked at each other for a moment.

"He warned me not to find myself in a room with just me and Gaster."

Asriel stumbled back. "What?! Is that why you asked me-?"

"Yes." I admitted. "Though it's not the only reason I asked you to stay..." A bit of red appeared on my face out of embarrassment for saying such a thing. It was true though. I didn't want Asriel to leave my side because his presence was comforting at the time.

It was the same feeling as when my older sister back on the surface would look out for me. A sense of relief that could give you the courage to get through anything. _Well, that's before she changed into a completely different person, anyways..._

"Oh. So, uh... my advice helped, huh?"

_Yeah, it did._

"That's good to hear. If I had found out that he was keeping you in his backup room away from everyone, I'd have snapped." Sans still had the nice blue rings that surrounded his two pupils, but they intensified in their density as he said the last word.

"We should be thanking you, Sans." Asriel held out a hand, offering it to Sans. He took it and then...

...the whoopee cushion went off.

Me and Sans burst out laughing while Asriel feigned a frown. "Really?"

"Can't believe you forgot about it that quickly, Azzy." I managed to say between my laughs.

After we finished laughing about it (Asriel was now smiling too, which didn't go unnoticed) we thanked Sans again for the help, then left him there. It was getting late so we had to hurry home.

"Hey, that guy seems pretty cool. What do you think of him?" I asked along the way.

"He's a son of that doctor I despise. Buuut, he did save you so he's fine in my books." Asriel responded. "If anything, it makes me hate the doctor even more, if his own son distrust him with a human."

I smiled, knowing we both had a positive opinion on Sans... and a negative view on Gaster.

"Did you see those bags under his eye-sockets?"

"Yeah, I did." Asriel frowned again. "That doctor probably keeps them up all night every night, not giving them a chance to sleep."

Asriel seemed to REALLY dislike Gaster. I couldn't blame him, but it seemed like there were some personal things between them. Maybe there was more about him than Asriel was letting on...

I decided to brighten up the mood by gasping loudly. "Wait a second!"

My goat brother jumped. "What is it?"

"We forgot to let Sans tell us who made that bench!" I exclaimed.

Asriel sighed loudly. "You had me all worried for a second for that..."

I couldn't help but giggle at his frustration.

* * *

_**To be continued...**_

_**Ooo! A flashback chapter. We got some insight to the infamous character Gaster and his role in Chara's arrival, along with her first meeting with Sans and her bond with goat bro! There's a few time gaps here and there, but hopefully you get the gist of it.**_

_**Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for Chapter Five.**_


	5. Haunted Word Searches

**_Before we begin..._**

**_I have no clue why but it seems like Chapter Five didn't publish for some reason... Let's try this again._**

* * *

It was a long journey through the outskirts of Snowdin. Mountains, spikes, traps and puzzles were in the way.

"Glad they finally decided to set up some fun stuff around here." Chara rambled aloud. "I remember Papyrus saying this place needed more puzzles."

As if on cue, Papyrus started walking backwards so he could face towards Frisk and talk. "IMPRESSED BY THESE PUZZLES? I MADE THEM ALL MYSELF!" Papyrus declared happily. Then they stumbled across a bit of paper on the ground covered in snow. "EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE, WHICH WAS MADE BY SANS."

Frisk giggled a little. "I can tell a LOT of time and effort went into that one."

Sans raised his arms. "You're right. Word Searches aren't easy to make, y'know?"

Chara's cheeks puffed up slightly as she tried suppressing a laugh. "Wow, way to steal my idea..." She whispered to herself. Chara floated over to the paper to see what was on it. But it was facing downward so she couldn't see.

"Aww c'mon, really?" She huffed. Her ghostly hand slashed at the paper, trying to lift it. Surprisingly, it actually worked...?

She tried touching it again. This time, her hand wasn't phasing through items. Chara tried picking it up...

"Woah!" Sans gasped. "Look at that, bro! The paper is floating around."

Chara glanced straight at Sans. She knew he couldn't see him, but it still felt like she was being stared at.

"OH NO! SANS, YOU MADE THE DEADLIEST WORD SEARCH EVER! NOW IT'S HAUNTED AND OUT FOR THE HUMAN!" Papyrus rushed over to the human and clutched them tightly. "STAY CLOSE! I SHALL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM."

Chara started giggling like mad while Frisk watched her curiously. Then, without a word, Chara sprinted towards Papyrus while holding the paper in front of her.

"NYEH-?!" Papyrus began swinging his arms around wildly in a weak attempt to 'stop' the paper. Chara saw this and immediately hid the paper, folding it and putting it in her pocket.

Sans was chuckling silently, watching the entire scenario unfold in front of him. "Good jobs Paps. Seems like you scared it enough for it to calm down."

Papyrus then jumped up, concerned. "OH NO! I'M SORRY FOR SCARING YOU! HOPEFULLY WE CAN STILL BE FRIENDS!" He knelt down in front of the folded paper, begging for forgiveness.

Unsure of what to do, Chara jumped up and down to move the paper in a reassuring way.

"Never thought I'd see someone roleplay as literal paper..." Frisk mumbled, amused. Sans, who was standing next to her, shrugged.

"Eh, I've seen weirder stuff from anime honestly." He remarked. "Not sure what you meant by that though. I don't see anyone there."

Frisk's face flared up in panic. She didn't realise she was thinking her thoughts out loud. She was about to spout a lie to protect the identity of her ghost friend, but then saw Chara giving her a thumbs up.

"Uh, this is hard to explain but there's a ghost right there that is only visible to a few people? I can see them, and I'm guessing you aren't able to."

Sans' white pupils shifted over to look at Frisk. Her expression was saying she is being truthful... yet her words were so bizarre.

"Cool. You'll have to introduce me to them sometime." He replied, sounding as sarcastic as possible. Frisk groaned loudly.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Sure I do, bud." He winked. "Just wanted to see how you'd react."

Frisk groaned again. It was so hard to tell what Sans' feelings were. His facial features didn't move, except for the pupils in his eye-sockets. Even then, it wasn't enough for her to find any answer.

_With how big his eye-sockets are, and how small the white dots in them were... (they weren't THAT small, but they didn't take up much of the empty space in his eye-sockets) It felt like there was something missing in his eyes._

For now though, Frisk brushed the thought away and continued walking, forgetting that Papyrus was still asking for forgiveness from the Word Search.

* * *

_Arriving at Snowdin..._

"Greetings, Papyrus!"

"Hiya Papy~!"

"Yo! What's up dude?"

Papyrus greeted the town folk as he arrived. He was ahead of the rest of the gang, so he decided to distract himself by talking to some of his neighbours. He found himself visiting Grillby's, with the entire town following him inside of the restaurant.

Life was peaceful for Snowdin residents, but that also meant nothing exciting happened. That was, until Papyrus and Sans moved in. Sans explained on the way to Snowdin that he would be too lazy to talk to people sometimes, so Papyrus would be the one chatting with them mostly. He was very popular in the town because of it, but it's not like he was complaining.

Thankfully for Sans and Frisk, Papyrus going ahead and (unintentionally) distracting the townsfolk would delay having to introduce Frisk to everyone.

In fact, Sans could delay it even further.

"See that house over there?" He pointed, slightly running. "That house belongs to me and Paps."

Without warning, he grabbed Frisk's hand. Though not too harshly to startle or scare her. "Why don't we have a look?"

Before she could argue, Frisk found herself inside of their house. She didn't expect Underground houses to look so similar to the ones on the surface, but they did. _At least this felt a lot more cozy than the house I lived in for several years... _She thought.

"What's the rush for, Sans?" She asked.

"Nothing much." Sans sat down on the couch, stretching his arms out for a moment before dropping them to his sides lazily. "Just didn't feel like declaring to the others that a human is here right now."

"Oh..." Frisk scratched her head, unsure what to do. "Uh... what should I do?"

It seemed like he was barely paying attention anymore. "You can explore the house for a bit. Wait for Paps to get back here." His eye-sockets closed and his pupils shrunk.

There was a silence, then Sans' head sunk into his hoodie as he got comfy. A big yawn escaped his mouth, then some extremely light and soft snoring could be heard.

After hearing the yawn, Chara also yawned. Realising how tired she was, Chara decided to join Sans on the couch and fell asleep right next to him instantly.

It was jarring to Frisk, how comfortable Chara was around this person to do that. Granted, Sans couldn't see her, but still.

"Really, Chara?" Frisk asked. No response.

She was tempted to sit down too, but her legs actually weren't that exhausted. Nor was her entire body for that matter... strange.

While she was waiting, Frisk explored the Kitchen. There was a container for Hot Chocolate and Ketchup... both right next to each other. A trash bin with crumpled-up recipes for spaghetti, a small tub of vanilla-flavoured ice cream- _Nice _cream...

_What a strange kitchen... _Frisk thought to herself.

She turned on the TV to see some program about a robot named Mettaton. Or rather, the message that appears _after _an episode was finished airing.

There was some joke book placed on a stand next to the couch Sans and Chara were sleeping on. Speaking of which, those two were practically cuddling. It didn't look unnatural though, for some reason...

She debated on whether or not she should go upstairs, but Frisk went against the idea. Instead, she went in the kitchen to not disturb the two from their sleep.

"Psst! Mr. Voice-in-My-Head!" Frisk quietly called out. "Are you still there?"

...

...

...

**"Yes, I am still here."**

"Are you feeling any better? I was a bit worried earlier. You sounded exhausted."

**"I am fine now. No need to worry. Though your concern is certainly amusing..."**

Frisk couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. "What part about it is amusing to you?"

**"All of it."**

"Why?" Frisk was getting fed up with the answers she was being given.

**"I have not a reason to explain it. Natural feeling."**

Frisk sighed quietly. It felt like she had been stringed along throughout this adventure so far. Chara was no help in explaining anything to her, even though she knew stuff... it annoyed her.

But she did say that Frisk will figure it out by herself... that chat was not assuring, especially since Chara said it was a 'gut feeling' or something along those lines.

...Frisk considered if she actually WAS tired and didn't realise it.

She started walking circles around the small kitchen, growing impatient by the minute. It seemed that the voice in her head was no longer present. Though, she was not sure if he was just not speaking or if he was actually asleep or something.

Reflecting back on what she had seen so far... the Monster world was certainly... different. It was like something from a fantasy book. She wasn't complaining though. Sometimes, Frisk would get so enthralled in the story-filled worlds made by authors that it distracted her from many problems at home.

_This time was different though, as it wasn't a fantasy._

Frisk stopped for a second, her stomach growling with hunger. She hadn't eaten anything at all today. The thought of taking some food while nobody was looking felt disrespectful to her. Even though her parents never taught her good manners, she developed them on her own accord.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a sticky note attached to the fridge that she didn't notice before.

_Dear human,_

_If you are feeling hungry and need a snack, then feel free to grab something to eat. All humans get free food with no extra charge._

_...unless you eat out the entire stock of food here within minutes, or something._

_\- Sans_

Frisk smiled at the last paragraph. The thought of her eating all the food here was implausible yet funny. Then she turned the note over to see some more writing on it.

_PS. YOU ARE ALWAYS ALLOWED TO HAVE SOME LEFTOVER SPAGHETTI! THE MICROWAVE HAS AN OPTION FOR HEATING UP THE LEFTOVERS. PLEASE CONSIDER IT! THEY'RE STARTING TO TAKE UP TOO MUCH SPACE IN THE FRIDGE!_

_\- THE GREAT PAPYRUS_

She giggled a little. Papyrus was so expressive, even in writing form. Though she had only just met him, she could imagine him saying all this to her rather than being told by a sticky note.

Something that caught her eye was a small box on top of the microwave. She grabbed it, then saw a small note at the bottom of it.

_I'm sorry._

...oh no.

After reading the note, she immediately placed it back where it was. She searched around for something interesting. While there was some stuff that sounded appetising, Frisk wasn't in the mood for any of it.

Earlier, in the cold of the outside, she found herself craving a warm meal. Now? She still wanted that. So she settled on having the leftover spaghetti.

Frisk grabbed the leftover spaghetti, which had been kept in a cup-like container, the way instant noodles would be stored. A small note was attached to the back of it. The handwriting got smaller the further down the note as she read.

_IF YOU ARE GOING TO EAT THIS SPAGHETTI OUT OF THE CUP IT'S STORED IN, I'D RECOMMEND LIFTING IT TO YOUR MOUTH TO 'DRINK' IT! THOUGH MY BROTHER SAYS TO USE A FORK? HE SAYS IT'S WEIRD TO EAT IT LIKE THAT, BUT I DON'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT! NYEH HEH HEH!_

_\- THE GREAT PAPYRUS_

Frisk couldn't help but smile at how dedicated Papyrus is to everything he does. She found a fork from the collection of neatly-organised silverware and tossed the spaghetti in the microwave, pressing the button labelled 'Spaghetti" as she did so.

Initially, she was just going to stare at the microwave until it was finished. But she quickly got bored and decided to see if there were notes on the other containers of spaghetti.

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), there actually was.

_ARE YOU THE SAME PERSON EATING THE FIRST CONTAINER OF SPAGHETTI? IF NOT, PLEASE ASK THEM TO RECITE THE INSTRUCTIONS I GAVE. WAIT... WHAT IF THEY ALREADY THREW THE CONTAINER AWAY?! OH NO! LET'S START BACK FROM SQUARE ONE, JUST TO BE SURE! DO YOU KNOW WHO PAPYRUS IS? WHAT IS IT ABOUT HIM THAT-_

Frisk giggled again. Papyrus was so entertaining, even if he wasn't trying to be. She picked up the spaghetti next to the one she just read.

_AHEM! IT APPEARS THAT I'VE RUN OUT OF SPACE TO USE TO EXPRESS MY GREATNESS! SO, IF YOU EVER NEED TO REMEMBER WHAT TO DO, CALL ME! HERE'S MY PHONE NUMBER._

Then it had a bunch of numbers on it. Frisk couldn't figure out what they were for, but took an educated guess that it was for a 'phone' or something.

She decided to stop reading them for now so she could amuse herself more with his ramblings later on.

Thankfully, the time it took to read the two (out of many) notes made waiting a lot easier since there were only a few seconds left until it was finished.

Once it was finished, she grabbed the warm cup and opened it, seeing the messy food stuffed inside of it. The food didn't bother her though, since she could eat practically anything... even if she made a mess afterwards.

* * *

_Half an hour later..._

"THANKS FOR TREATING ME, GUYS! SEE YOU ALL SOME OTHER TIME." Papyrus waved goodbye to the remaining folk in the restaurant before leaving.

_OH GOODNESS! I HAVEN'T KEPT THEM WAITING FOR TOO LONG, HAVE I? _Papyrus panicked slightly. He rushed over to his house and slammed the door open.

Sans was still asleep on the couch, along with Chara (even though Papyrus couldn't see her). Neither of them had been woken up by Papyrus' arrival.

Papyrus quickly realised that his brother was asleep and quietly closed the door. Then he heard a slight thump from the Kitchen.

"HELLO?" He peeked his head into the kitchen, to see the human with a tiny bit of spaghetti on their lap. They were sitting down on the floor, their legs crossed, eating spaghetti.

Papyrus couldn't be more happy.

"FINALLY, SOMEONE IS SERVING THEMSELVES THE LEFTOVERS!" He kept his voice quiet, as to not wake up Sans. "THANK YOU HUMAN!"

Frisk scratched her head. "No problem...?"

Papyrus looked over at the counter and saw four cups of his leftover spaghetti all empty. He started tearing up slightly.

"WOWIE... NO ONE HAS APPRECIATED MY COOKING AS MUCH AS YOU BEFORE!" He wipes away his tears. "ASIDE FROM SANS, THAT IS."

"WORRY NOT THOUGH HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL MAKE YOU PROPER SPAGHETTI IN DUE TIME!"

"No, I think that's alright Papyrus. The leftovers are actually quite nice." Frisk reassured him.

"REALLY? THAT'S GREAT! NOW YOU CAN EAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT, WITHOUT HAVING TO WAIT FOR ME TO COOK! PLUS, YOU ARE ALSO FREEING UP SOME SPACE IN MY FRIDGE BY DOING SO." Papyrus clapped his hands together excitedly.

"THANK YOU, HUMA- ER... WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" He asked.

"Frisk."

"WE ARE GOING TO BE GREAT FRIENDS, HUMAN-FRISK! NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus was humming with joy.

Frisk smiled brightly, knowing that she cheered up Papyrus immensely. "Hey Papyrus?"

"YES?"

"Now that I'm here... what are we going to do?"

The emotions on Papyrus' face paused for a moment as he thought about her words.

"I... DON'T REALLY KNOW."

* * *

_**To be continued...**_

_**Heya! Chapter Five is here! Felt like slowing the pace down a bit and make this chapter less about the story and more about some silly stuff. Hopefully that doesn't bother ya!**_

_**Still debating on a ship for Frisk though, which annoys me slightly.**_

_**Anyways! If you enjoyed the chapter, leave a review! I love to read them whenever they pop up on my stories.**_

_**Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for Chapter Six.**_


	6. The Safest Place

The mood was shifting in the atmosphere. Not in a good or bad way, it just changed. That alone was enough to make it unsettling.

Frisk had no idea what to do now. Sans and Chara were still sleeping... but now they were in a position that made Frisk's face red just by looking at them. With how close together they were, Frisk had to wonder whether or not Sans could actually see Chara or not... and if they were closer than friends or something.

Chara had been holding out on information. She knew that much, at least. Sans hadn't said much either, aside from that confrontation with the 'wizard vampire' from before.

"Hey Papyrus?" From the prolonged silence, Frisk's voice had struggled to find it's way out of her mouth.

"YES, HUMAN-FRISK?"

"Can you tell me about the Monsters history down here?" She asked.

Papyrus squinted slightly. "IT'S A VERY LONG STORY... I COULD TELL YOU MY PERSONAL HISTORY INSTEAD?"

Frisk thought about it for a second, then nodded.

"OKAY, SO I WAS CREATED BY MY FATHER AND MOTHER. NEVER MET MY MOTHER, SO IT WAS JUST THE THREE OF US LIVING TOGETHER FOR A WHILE."

"Three?" Frisk felt like she was missing something.

"YES." Papyrus answered. "THREE. MY BROTHER - BELIEVE IT OR NOT - IS ACTUALLY THE OLDER ONE. HE WAS BORN BEFORE ME. ANYWAYS! ME AND MY BROTHER LIVED TOGETHER, SINCE OUR FATHER WOULD ALWAYS BE AT HIS JOB."

"OUR FATHER WAS THE ROYAL SCIENTIST, SO HE WAS VERY POPULAR, AND BY EXTENSION, ME!" He posed. "OF COURSE, SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME WAS PREDESTINED TO BE ENRICHED WITH SUCH NICE PEOPLE WHO ADMIRED ME... OR RATHER, MY RELATION TO MY FATHER."

Frisk frowned slightly. She knew what it felt like, albeit not in the same way. Her parents were infamous for being such... let's say... dealers. Of the illegal variety... yeah.

"IT DIDN'T BOTHER ME MUCH, BUT SANS SEEMED TO LOATHE THE IDEA OF IT. STILL DOES, ACTUALLY. IN FACT, EVEN MORESO THAN BEFORE."

"Is..." Frisk nervously fidgeted. "Is your father at work right now then?"

A tint of guilt appeared on Papyrus' face. "HE'S NOT. IN FACT, HE IS..." He looked down at the floor gloomily. "NOT WITH US ANYMORE."

Frisk took a second to process what he meant by that. "Oh... I'm sorry Papyrus. I didn't mean to ask such a sensitive question."

"IT'S FINE, HUMAN-FRISK..." Papyrus assured. Then he snapped back to his happy-go-lucky attitude. "SO! ONE DAY, WHILE SANS IS OUT DOING STUFF FOR OUR FATHER, HE ENCOUNTERED A HUMAN! SHE WAS THE ONE THAT BELONGED TO THE ROYAL FAMILY."

"Her name was Chara, right?" It was easy for Frisk to put together the connection.

"YES, THAT'S HER NAME. SANS TALKED ABOUT HER A LOT. SEEMED PROUD OF HIMSELF. IT WAS NICE TO SEE MY BROTHER SO HAPPY FOR ONCE."

The image of Sans and Chara sleeping on the couch popped into her head, causing Frisk to smirk.

"HE SAID I SHOULD TALK TO THEM SOMETIME. SO I DID! WE ALL BECAME GOOD FRIENDS. THE PRINCE WAS SUCH A NICE PERSON! HE WAS THE CLOSEST THING I HAD TO A BEST FRIEND AT THE TIME."

"The Prince?"

"ASRIEL DREEMURR."

"Oh. Cool! I didn't know Chara was in a family of royalty." Frisk didn't think about her words before she said them.

Papyrus was now growing more skeptical. "HAVE YOU BEEN ACQUAINTED WITH HUMAN-CHARA OR SOMETHING? YOU APPEAR TO BE INTERESTED IN THE TOPIC OF HER."

Frisk panicked. "Uh- no! It's just that I was curious. She didn't tell me much herself-" She immediately closed her mouth with her hands.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN...?"

"N-nothing! I just tend to- uh... LIE! A lot. No, sometimes. Yeah."

"LIE ABOUT WHAT?"

Frisk sighed. She was digging the hole even deeper every time she spoke. "Nothing... just forget about it."

Papyrus stared at her for an uncomfortable amount of time. "VERY WELL. I SHALL NOT PUSH THE SUBJECT ANY FURTHER IF YOU SO DESIRE."

"Really?" Frisk was surprised. It seemed like the Monsters just accept bizarre things that were happening like they were schoolyard rumours. It felt awesome to her, yet frightening at the same time.

"WELL... CAN I ASK ONE QUESTION? I WILL NOT ASK SUCH A THING AGAIN, PROMISE."

Frisk's body shot up again. "G-go ahead."

"THAT WORD SEARCH FROM EARLIER... WHICH IS RIGHT NEXT TO SANS RIGHT NOW... IS THAT A... 'PHANTOM FIGURE' YOU CAN SEE?"

"What?"

"IS THERE ACTUALLY SOMEONE THERE THAT ONLY YOU OR CERTAIN OTHER PEOPLE CAN SEE?" He explained more clearly.

"Yes?" Frisk responded. She figured that she was no good at lying, so she might as well tell him the truth. Besides, nothing bad can come out of telling the truth about her, right?

Papyrus suddenly got up, no longer sitting next to her. He approached the living room and watched the couch, where Sans was sleeping. In his head, Papyrus envisioned a familiar human next to him, wearing that same green and brown clothing.

"I SEE." Papyrus commented. "_NOW I KNOW WHY SANS ACTUALLY LOOKS CONTENT FOR ONCE... AND MAYBE __**THAT **__WAS ACTUALLY ONTO SOMETHING."_

* * *

_A few hours later..._

Sans finally woke up from his slumber. Something about it was so soothing... strange. He hadn't felt like that in a while. He noticed that there was a bit of paper next to him...

...oh yeah, that was the word search from earlier.

He stretched tiredly and lazily walked over to the kitchen, grabbing a ketchup bottle whilst in there. Frisk and Papyrus were nowhere to be seen. Weird.

Then he heard muffled noises from his brother's room.

"THIS IS MY ROOM! UNLIKE MY BROTHER, WHO NEVER GOES IN HIS OWN ROOM, I FREQUENT MY ROOM QUITE OFTEN!"

"Wow, Papyrus. Nice stuff you got here." Frisk remarked. His room was good, especially when compared to Sans' room, which she had seen before this.

Then she heard the door open, making her jump so high she hit the ceiling. Literally.

"Heya bro." Sans rubbed below his eye-sockets, his head peaking into the room. "Heya Frisk."

"GREETINGS, BROTHER! I HOPE YOU HAD A NICE REST!" Papyrus smiled brightly.

"I did. Today made me really... _bone-tired._" Sans winked.

"SANS!" Papyrus groaned in frustration. "NOT ONLY IS THAT PUN NOT FUNNY, BUT YOU'VE SAID THAT ONE A MILLION TIMES ALREADY!"

Frisk was frowning too, which made Sans chuckle slightly. He slipped through the small opening of the door and closed it behind him. In his hand was a bottle of ketchup.

"Why do you have the ketchup?" Frisk asked.

"Take a wild guess." Sans snickered. Frisk just shrugged. "To treat myself, of course."

"Do you mean that literally or metaphorically?"

"Literally."

Frisk gulped. He wasn't implying that he was gonna cover himself in ketchup and make someone eat him, was he...?

Suddenly, Sans brought the ketchup to his mouth and emptied the entire bottle with one swig. "That was appetising."

"YOU DISGUST ME WITH YOUR EATING HABITS SOMETIMES SANS."

"Says the one who always eats spaghetti for dinner, lunch and dessert." Sans retorted playfully.

Papyrus opened his mouth, but no words came out. Then his smile faded slightly.

"Hehe. Gotcha there bro."

"DANG IT!"

It seemed like such a childish thing to argue over, yet the two were having fun. Meanwhile, Frisk silently listened. Amidst all of the talking, Chara entered the room. She rubbed her eyes slightly.

"Howdy." Chara unenthusiastically greeted. Frisk just smiled in response. Unbeknownst to them both, Papyrus caught onto what Frisk was doing.

"IT SEEMS LIKE WE'RE ALL READY!" Papyrus decided to announce, seemingly out of the blue. "SANS, WHAT ARE WE DOING WITH THE HUMAN?"

"We're going to escort them to the barrier, so they may go back to their family on the surface."

Frisk gasped. "No no no! Please don't do that!" She shouted. "I don't ever want to see them again. They're the reason I came here in the first place."

Sans and Papyrus both shared a knowing glance. Then the shorter skeleton spoke. "Unloving family, eh? That's fine. We know the feeling from many perspectives." The two patted her back, comforting her.

"Thanks. But... what's the plan now then?" Frisk was curious.

"Well, I would say stay here... but it's not safe here. I have a friend who agreed to help us with hiding any humans that came down here in case this situation happened." The short skeleton explained.

He pulled out the same device from before and pressed a few things. Then held up the phone to his ear... or rather, where his ear _would _be.

"Heya Alphys. Calling you to say that we have a green light. Bye." Sans talked to it then turned it off.

"SANS, WHY DID YOU STOP THE CALL SO QUICKLY WITHOUT GIVING THEM A CHANCE TO RESPOND? THAT'S VERY RUDE." Papyrus scolded him.

"Easy, Paps. They knew I was going to do that." Sans replied. "And you _know_ what happens if a call lasts for longer than thirty seconds."

Papyrus sighed, knowing very well what he was talking about. "I UNDERSTAND. SPEAKING OF WHICH, HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET THE HUMAN PAST HER?"

Sans shrugged. "Luck, I guess. Not much other options. You should call in advance." Papyrus pulled out a similar device of his own without saying a word in response. His device looked a lot more advanced than Sans' device did.

"Sans, what is that?" Frisk pointed at what Papyrus was holding.

"That's a mobile device. Or, to put it simply, a phone." Sans looked over to something else in the room. "Do you guys not have phones up on the surface? Thought Monsters would be behind in technology, not ahead."

"No, we do have those. It's just..." She paused. "I wasn't allowed to have my own, nor did I ever ask anyone about them. Sans seemed to be contemplating something.

"Okay." He simply responded. Papyrus then gestured the two of them to 'shush' as he held the phone up to his face.

A ringing sound was heard, then it stopped. "HELLO, UNDYNE! THIS IS PAPYRUS. I WAS CALLING TO TELL YOU I WILL BE PASSING BY THE CHECKPOINT TO WATERFALL SOON. ME AND SANS WILL BE VISITING HOTLAND FOR A BIT."

Small noises came out of the device. Then Papyrus continued. "YES, THANK YOU. SEE YOU LATER, UNDYNE!" He pressed a button, causing a beep noise to sound out of the phone.

Chara made her presence in the room known to Frisk as she tugged her arm slightly. "What's happened to Undyne...?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

* * *

_**To be continued...**_

_**Heya! Not that lengthy of a Chapter compared to the previous parts, I know. But I really wanted to get the story back in motion. Seems like something isn't right with Undyne. What could it be...? And what does Papyrus know about Chara? Does he know? Who knows?!**_

_**Anyways, thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated. Stay tuned for Chapter Seven!**_


	7. Separated

_**ENTRY LOG 1**_

_**Finally. After a long time of waiting, the first specimen has arrived. This... has been a long time coming. It's been only hours, yet I've learnt so much about human biology.**_

_**They show no signs of resistance. Good. This'll make everything much easier.**_

* * *

_**ENTRY LOG 2**_

_**I've accomplished something. With careful precision and the right tools, my hypothesis is now confirmed. The essence of one SOUL trait... DETERMINATION. It can be extracted from them safely.**_

_**Now my experiments can truly begin...**_

* * *

Papyrus tossed a small backpack to Frisk. Inside the backpack, there were some snacks, a book, and a bone. All courtesy of Papyrus himself.

It was the next day. They had decided to rest up for the night to prepare, now that their plan was set in motion. The two skeletons waited by the door for Frisk.

"WAIT A SECOND!" Papyrus gasped. "WE HAVEN'T INTRODUCED THE HUMAN TO THE SNOWDIN FOLK YET!"

"Easy, Paps." Sans patted his back. "We can show them after we get back. These people aren't going anywhere, are they?"

"YES, I SUPPOSE YOU'RE RIGHT. VERY WELL THEN!" Papyrus grabbed his scarf and put it on. "NOW HURRY ALONG HUMAN! WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO GET THERE."

* * *

"Hey Chara."

"Mmm?"

"Who's Undyne?"

"She's like the superhero of the Underground." Chara replied.

Frisk carefully walked around a small hole in the floor. There were a lot of cracks on the walls. Inside of one of them was a small face that was barely visible, which startled Frisk when she saw it.

They had been travelling through Waterfall for a while now. Sans and Papyrus were walking ahead of Frisk, making sure no monsters were nearby. Unfortunately, they were too far ahead for her to hear them. So she resorted to speaking to Chara every now and then.

Sometimes, when Frisk would say her name, Sans would turn around and look at Frisk, like he was trying to figure out what she had just said.

"Do you think he's figured it out?" Frisk was curious. He seemed to have a vague idea of what was happening. Maybe Papyrus told him something?

Chara thought for a moment. "Not sure. He can figure out some pretty complex stuff but also fails some really easy stuff." She giggled slightly, remembering something. "I wonder if he sometimes does that on purpose."

Frisk decided to walk faster to catch up to the two of them. "Hey Sans!" She called out. Sans slowed his pace down until he was right next to her.

"Sup."

"When you were sleeping on that couch, I saw something in the kitchen-"

Sans interrupted her. "That's called a fridge, my friend."

"No, I-" Frisk paused for a second, realising Sans was being sarcastic. "Yeah, real humorous." She was irritated by his words.

"Real _humerus?_" Sans quickly added.

"SAAAANNNSSS!" Papyrus' voice shouted out.

"No, what I was going to say was... uh... you made me forget- oh, in the kitchen there was this little container that had cookies in it."

Sans nodded in response. His pupils weren't really staring at anything. He was just staring off into space.

"On the side of it there was 'im sorry' written. What's that for?"

Sans stopped for a second. He seemed genuinely confused about her question, which made Frisk unsure. _"Maybe Papyrus wrote it?" _She thought.

"Oh." Sans' pupils shrunk and his smile, which was seemingly stuck in the same position, went down. "I forgot about that."

"Well, what's it for?"

Sans looked down at the ground, then cleared his throat. "It was for my friend. We hadn't seen each other in a day because we had a disagreement about something, and I was missing them a lot."

"We didn't argue often, but whenever we did... we would give each other a gift as an apology and also as forgiveness." Sans' smile went back to it's original position. "Heh. I would say something goofy too. It was funny to us."

"But we had a bigger argument this time. So I figured I would say do something... extra." A blue tint appeared on his face as he said the last word. "When I went to go apologise... their family told me they were sick. I went in a few days later to see them, but they were too sick to do anything."

"I hoped they would be okay, so I could see them again." Sans hesitated for a second. He was struggling to get the words out. "After so many days... they were gone."

_Oh._

"Sans, I... I'm sorry to hear that." Frisk felt bad about asking about it.

Sans' smile looked more fake than it did before. "It's fine. I just wished we weren't on bad terms when that happened. Still miss them a lot though."

A ghostly presence was tugging on her shoulder. Frisk looked at Chara, who looked like they were holding back tears. "How long ago was this?"

Frisk turned back towards Sans. "How long ago did that happen?" She repeated Chara's words.

"Two years ago."

Chara's eyes widened. "It's been that long...?" She whispered, seeing the world around her in a new way. "Has everything really changed that quickly..." Then a few tears escaped her eyes. "Is Azzy really...?"

Suddenly, she disappeared.

"What the-?!"

"What's up, kiddo?" Sans asked. "You seem concerned about something over there."

Frisk stared at where Chara was standing. She slapped herself mentally, making sure she just saw that. "N-no, I'm good. Thought I saw something over there, that's all."

Sans raised a non-existent eyebrow at her. "Okay then? I'm gonna go catch up to Paps. Remember to follow us." Then he went back towards Papyrus.

Frisk waited until he was far away, then called out. "Chara? Are you okay?" She asked. **Nobody came.**

"Chara...?" **Nobody came.**

"Chara, this isn't funny!" **Nobody came.**

Frisk whimpered. "Chara, please... come back..."

**BUT NOBODY CAME.**

* * *

After walking a bit more, they arrived at an opening. Sans stopped for a second to let Frisk catch up, then told them to stay right behind him.

There was a big sentry station with large, Christmas lights on the side of it. The walls and ceiling were beaten down, and there were two broken windows. Some security cameras were nearby.

"HELLO UNDYNE!"

"Hello, Papyrus." Undyne greeted from behind the station. "You already called in advance so this will be finished more quickly. Repeat to me what your reason of visit is."

"ME AND MY BROTHER ARE VISITING HOTLAND, TO SEE DR. ALPHYS."

"Dr. Alphys? You did not mention anything about her."

"WELL, YOU CAN ASK HER YOURSELF! SHE'S EXPECTING US SOON."

Undyne gestured something to an employee at the back of the building. A few seconds passed, then Undyne nodded.

"Alright, we just called her. Your reason is verified. Now I need to body scan you two."

Frisk tensed up slightly.

Undyne grabbed a small device next to her and held it up to Papyrus. A green light surrounded his body then flashed.

"You're good." Undyne gave a thumbs up. "Now you." She pointed at Sans.

Sans walked towards her very slowly, so that Frisk could more easily match his movements. The green light surrounded them and went red. Undyne sighed.

"What's the trick this time?" Undyne asked begrudgingly. Sans pulled out a ketchup bottle from his pocket. It was the same one she saw him drink in Papyrus' room.

"I think it's this." Sans winked. "Not to worry, I'll fix it."

Then, without a warning, Sans gripped the bottle tightly and slammed it into the device, smacking it out of Undyne's hands and breaking it. Immediately afterwards, he threw the bottle with all his might at the window.

Undyne, provoked by the sudden outburst, went to the back of the room to grab something. While she did so, Sans pushed the human over to Papyrus, who was on the other side of the checkpoint.

"ALRIGHT, PUNK! You've got two seconds to explain yourself!"

"Hi, I'm Sans." He responded. Undyne grabbed him by his hoodie and held him up. She slammed him against the wall.

"Shut up! You're going to the interrogation room." Undyne then dragged him into the building. Papyrus was about to interfere, but Sans gave him a 'shoo' gesture.

"QUICKLY, WE MUST RUN." Papyrus whispered to Frisk. He grabbed her hand and started sprinting away.

"Papyrus, what are they gonna do to him?" Frisk could barely keep up.

They stopped for a moment, then took a right turn. "NOTHING HARMFUL, HOPEFULLY!"

For hours, they ran. At least, it felt like hours. Eventually, Frisk had to resist Papyrus' pull because of how exhausted she was. Had they ran a bit more she would've been pushing her body's limits.

They stood on top of a loose bridge. "PHEW, WE ARE SAFE NOW." He wiped some sweat off his head. "ARE YOU OKAY, HUMAN-FRISK?"

Frisk panted, taking in deep breaths. "Ye... yeah... I'm... I'm good..."

But, just as they were starting to catch their breath, there was a snapping noise.

"AAAHHHHH!"

"HUMAN-FRISK!"

* * *

_**To be continued...**_


	8. Flowers

ENTRY LOG 3

Great results have been achieved from my experimenting so far. And it seems that no-one knows about this so far. Excellent. This is perfect. Once I am done with these small steps, we shall delve further.

The sound of the rushing water echoed across the place. Occasionally there would be a few splashes, and ripples could be seen.

A small bed of flowers laid at the bottom of the Waterfall. Frisk was lying on top of it, as if someone had carefully placed her there.

She stirred from her slumber after however long she had been there, and woke up. Distant memories filled her head. Some of them weren't even her own memories, as far as she could remember.

_But that voice... it's the same one I heard back before I met Chara..._

A pair of eyes watched her slowly collect her surroundings. She spotted them and freaked out, stumbling back into the water. Then she jumped into a standing position because of how cold the water was.

Turns out the pair of eyes were belonging to the first Monster they saw in the Underground.

"Howdy!" Flowey greeted. He blended in with the other flowers, so it was difficult to identify him at first. "Golly, you were out for so long!"

A few of those pellets from before emerged around them. "Maybe I should send you back to sleep?" His crazed expression that terrified Frisk the first time she saw him was back and still just as creepy.

Frisk shook her head, unable to build the courage to speak. Flowey's face turned back to normal, slightly unamused.

"Okay, you don't even seem scared now. What's the big deal?" He looked a little defeated. "Even after all this time I still don't understand you humans."

"You knew a human?"

Her words seemed to startle Flowey as his face shifted expressions rapidly. Then he sighed loudly. "Yes, I did. Everyone in the Underground did. What of it?"

Flowey's eyes looked at her for a second, then looked away. But then he quickly looked back and started scanning Frisk.

"Wait... that clothing... that hairstyle... Chara, is that you?"

Frisk blinked. This flower was mistaking her for Chara? Then again, when's the last time anyone saw Chara? That ghost said two years had passed, right?

Realising she had zoned out, she shook her head to snap herself back to reality. "No, I'm not Chara. But I can let Chara know you said hi."

Flowey pulled out a vine and aimed it at her head. "Don't play games with me you idiot. It's not funny."

Frisk held her hand out. "No, really. I can tell her. Somehow, I can see her ghost."

Reluctance filled Flowey as he was unsure of what to do. A sigh escaped him. "Truth be told, I would've killed you in the Ruins without a second thought." He coughed.

"Why didn't you then?"

"BECAUSE!" Flowey felt like whipping the human with his vine, but resisted the urge to do so. "...because something about you seemed so familiar. Like I was seeing a long lost friend again."

Flowey then looked up at her. "But now that feeling doesn't resonate whenever I see you." He snarled slightly. "If you made her upset I swear-"

"No, no!" Frisk waved her hands up. "It wasn't me. We were just talking and then Sans said something and she seemed to realise something and then she left."

"WHAT?!" Flowey shouted. "That TRASHBAG upset her? That's it." Flowey then departed, sinking into the ground like before.

Frisk tried stopping him, but to no avail. She sighed loudly. Great. Now she has a maniacal flower chasing Sans and Chara is upset with her. Couldn't get any worse.

She started to sweat, stressed out from what she had done. But then a voice called out and calmed her down.

"HUMAN-FRISK?"

"Over here!" She whimpered. It was enough for Papyrus to hear, as he sprinted over and immediately tried supporting her so she could stand up.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HUMAN-FRISK? THAT WAS QUITE A NASTY FALL."

_...oh yeah, that's how she ended up here._

He quickly scanned her body, making sure she was okay and had no injuries. Thankfully, she was unscathed.

"YOU LOOK OKAY." Papyrus patted her shoulder proudly. "I ADMIRE YOUR SURVIVABILITY, HUMAN!" Frisk smiled brightly at his compliment.

"You think that fall would've hurt her?" A voice she was all too familiar with spoke. "How did you think she got down in the Underground in the first place?"

Frisk looked in the direction of the voice and stuck her tongue out. Papyrus turned towards the same direction and scratched his head.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He asked. Frisk realised their mistake and waved their hands up innocently.

"N-nothing! I just felt like..." Frisk sighed loudly. "It's nothing don't worry."

Chara rushed over and tugged Frisk's shoulder lightly. "Why don't you tell him I'm here? There's nothing wrong with doing that."

Frisk pondered for a minute. Yeah, why was she trying to act like she wasn't there? There's nothing wrong with telling people Chara was there... unless they thought she was LYING, of course.

She nodded, and with confidence, started to speak.

"Chara is over there. I can see her clearly but you cannot."

Papyrus jumped back slightly and fell over. "H-HUMAN?! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"

"What?" Frisk was confused. "Is that a bad thing or something?"

"NO! I MEAN THAT LITERALLY, **WHAT **DID YOU JUST SAY?"

* * *

_Chara's POV_

Confusion was written all over Papyrus' face. I can't blame him, what did she say? What language was she speaking?

"I'll say it again, ❽︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❒︎ ︎ ︎⬧︎ □︎❖︎ ︎❒︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎❒︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ ✋︎ ︎ ︎■︎ ⬧︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❒︎ ⬥︎ ︎ ︎●︎ ︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ︎ ︎■︎■︎□︎⧫︎? ﾸﾎ❾︎"

_Does Frisk even know what she's saying?_

Papyrus seemed about as clueless as I was to whatever she was saying. She looked at him as if he were joking, then at me. Now she looked confused too.

_What is happening right now?!_

"EH... OKAY I GUESS? THIS'LL BE OUR LITTLE SECRET...?" I'm guessing Papyrus thought she was joking around or something, or he was trying to guess what she was saying. If so, I wasn't convinced.

Judging by Frisk's expression, she wasn't convinced either.

"Do you not understand me...?" Frisk looked down at themselves. Papyrus approached her.

"CAN'T SAY I DO." Papyrus shook his head. "THOUGH THAT DOES FAINTLY REMIND OF SOMETHING..."

...wait, yeah. That does sound kinda familiar actually.

Frisk looked at me and I just shook my head, already knowing what her question was. She seemed to be thinking about her words... _can they be considered words?_

"Never mind. Forget about it." Frisk didn't look like she would forget about this. "Anyways, what were we talking about again?"

I couldn't remember what was going on before that to be honest. The moment shocked me so much that I forgot what was happening.

"I CAN'T RECALL. OH WELL!" Papyrus put his arm around her and lifted her up onto his shoulder. "WE SHOULD GET GOING."

Frisk tried climbing off his shoulder, but Papyrus insisted she stayed there. She simply wouldn't allow it however, as she thought it would be bothering him.

"IT'S NOT A BOTHER AT ALL!" Papyrus exclaimed. "YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY, I'M VERY STRONG."

"I know. It's just that... I _want _to keep walking."

_Does she ever get tired?_

"VERY WELL THEN. YOUR DETERMINATION IS VERY INSPIRING TO ME, HUMAN." Papyrus started walking ahead, allowing her to walk at her own pace and follow him. I walked alongside her.

"So, where were you?" Frisk asked.

"Just needed to be alone for a minute. Think about what happened." I truthfully responded. After hearing what Sans said, I went to the garbage dump and sat there, trying not to cry. Which is how I am here, because Frisk stumbled upon this area.

_**How's that exposition for ya?**_

"What about you?" I inquired.

"I ran into that flower again."

Worry flowed through me. If she met that flower again, then he might've given her a rough time...

"What happened?"

"Well, I talked for a bit. They seemed to recognise your name, and mistook my appearance for yours."

I was surprised at how that hadn't happened sooner, honestly. Then again, she _was _actively avoiding a lot of Monsters...

"-then he somewhat explained why he didn't attack me, asked where you were, and I told him that you left... _and why you left_, which made him angry at Sans and now he's gone after him."

_What?! He's going after him?!_

"Okay, give me a minute." I rushed backwards to where I left the gang before. Frisk tried stopping me but I was set on going back there and making sure Sans was okay.

* * *

_Frisk's POV_

She left again. Great. Well, at least now I KNOW where she is going. Doesn't make me worry as much.

That incident earlier... why couldn't they understand me? Wait... dang it. I should've asked Chara about that first. Guess I'll ask her later then...

Just as I was about to get my thoughts together again, the voice in my head spoke.

"**That was certainly amusing.**"

_Maybe he knew what was happening?_

"Hey, Mr. Voice-"

"**Let me ask you something, child. Why? Why do you not bother to attack them? Why do you choose not to destroy all the Monsters?**"

"Why would I? Monsterkind has had it rough enough already. They've been beaten in a war and forgotten about."

"**I see.**"

Whoever this voice inside my head was, they were starting to get creepy.

...as if it wasn't creepy enough _having _a voice that didn't belong to you in your head in the first place.

* * *

_**To be continued...**_


	9. Discovery

_**ENTRY LOG 4**_

_**Despite my best efforts, it seems as though somebody knows about this test subject. No matter. They know that I won't hesitate to punish them, should they try to tell anyone.**_

_**My research is going greatly. Just a little longer and we shall be reaching greater heights.**_

* * *

It felt like two hours until they finally got somewhere. A big sign reading "Hotland" with a completely empty water cooler nearby. The water that was once far below them was now lava instead.

Frisk felt like she had been inside a volcano, like in some of her dreams. The temperature was hot but not enough for Frisk to feel like she was being incinerated every second.

Papyrus pointed out a big lab nearby, and kept close to Frisk as they walked over to it. Royal Guards were patrolling this area too, though the guards here were far more experienced than the ones in Snowdin.

Entering the lab, it was a bunch of darkness. Absolutely nothing could be seen. Luckily, Papyrus memorised the place of the light-switch, and promptly turned it back on.

Now that she could see clearly, Frisk examined the lab closely. It was surprisingly very tidy and neat, though the placement of the fridge was certainly weird.

A door on the other side of the room opened, and a yellow lizard Monster walked out. They were in formal clothing... or they seemed to be, anyways.

"Oh! Hi t-there!" She nervously greeted. "Y-you must be Sans' brother?"

"YES! HELLO THERE!" Papyrus took her left hand and shook it with his right hand. "WE HAVE A HUMAN HERE! I'M GUESSING YOU HAVE SOMEPLACE SAFE TO KEEP THEM?"

The lizard tapped her feet impatiently. "W-well, yes I do." She walked forward slightly. "Can t-they come with me for a moment?"

"SURE!" Papyrus pushed her forward lightly. "PLEASE FOLLOW DR. ALPHYS! IN THE MEANTIME, I SHALL GO CHECK SOMETHING. BE RIGHT BACK!" Without another word, he was already out of the building.

The two left in the building looked at each other, unsure of what to say. "S-so! My name's Alphys, as you've probably heard. I've got someplace to keep you safe." She held out her hand. "F-follow me."

She reached out to grab her hand, but then spotted something behind Alphys. On one of the monitors, there was a cartoon-style video playing of a cat girl with ice cream.

"Is that a cartoon?" Frisk asked, pointing at it. "I like cartoons."

She loved watching cartoons back on the surface. They were her favourite thing to watch on the TV. But her parents hated that stuff so she barely had any time to watch any cartoons. Plus they kept actively removing the channels so she wouldn't be able to watch them anyways...

"Oh! Uh..." Alphys twiddled her fingers. "That's anime. Kinda like cartoons, but a lot cooler! I could show you some of that stuff when I get the chance." Frisk nodded her head in response.

"Great!" Alphys then remembered what she was supposed to be doing. "A-anyways! Please follow me, I will show you where you'll be staying."

Frisk smiled and grabbed her hand. This Alphys person seemed nice enough. Though they kept warning Frisk not to tell anyone about what she will see in lab... that's a little unsettling.

Still, what's the worst that could happen?

* * *

...is that a...?

"Do all Monsters look like this?" Frisk asked.

"W-well, n-no. Th-these guys a-are... d-d-different." Alphys replied, stuttering a lot.

Frisk studied her view. In front of her was a... dog... monster...? With a combination of more... dogs? _Weird. _She thought to herself.

She kept walking around the dark corridors until she encountered a really creepy looking door that led into an even creepier room.

"S-so this is w-where y-you'll be s-staying." Alphys forced a smile to try and reassure her. "It's uh... t-temporary."

Frisk didn't argue. She couldn't anyways, since there wasn't much other options. Alphys closed the door unexpectedly, leaving Frisk alone in the dark.

She looked around everywhere. Nothing of interest was in the room. Nobody was there to talk to.

Emptiness filled her mind, as the darkness of the room encased her figure. She sat down on the floor as she felt her SOUL sink into the darkness...

She felt herself re-emerge, but not in the same room anymore... or the same world. She couldn't see the floor beneath her.

From the deepest depths of the darkness, a figure appeared with the exact same voice she heard in the Ruins. "**TIME IS UP. YOU CAN NO LONGER ESCAPE.**"

Without warning, a slash came from some direction. It sliced through her entire body, and all she could do was watch...

...because it was just phasing right through her.

"**What... how could this be...**" Something that resembled a face lit up in the dark. "**You... you're certainly an interesting child, aren't you?**"

"Who are you?"

"**Me? That information is need-to-know, and right now... you don't.**" They turned away.

Wait a second... isn't that what the voice in her head first said to her...?

"Mr. Voice-in-my-Head?" Frisk asked. The figure started chuckling maniacally.

"**Refer to me as the doctor.**"

"Right." Frisk clasped her hands together. "So, Doctor Guy... who are you, why am I here, what are you doing here, why are you inside my head?"

The chuckling continued. "**I used to be full of questions about everything too. When you want to figure out the answer to something, you know what you do? You don't ask about it. You find it out yourself. Common knowledge can become uncommon knowledge.**"

"So you're telling me to figure it out myself?" The figure nodded. Frisk groaned in frustration. "Why does EVERYONE want me to figure stuff out myself?!"

"**Yes, child. Unleash your anger. Show your resentment for them in full force...**"

"No. They don't deserve it."

"**Do YOU deserve to be treated this way? You have such fine powers that you could surpass them all.**"

"How so?" She inquired.

"**Humans are generally stronger than Monsters. Immensely stronger. The Underground has a vast number of inhabitants, but adding the power of all their SOULs together could only amount to ONE human SOUL.**"

Frisk sat there for a moment, thinking about what he said. Did she really hold that power? What is it about human SOULs that make them better than Monster SOULs?

...at least that explains how Monsters lost the war, anyways. But wouldn't that mean it was a one-sided war then?

Before she could think about it longer, light engulfed them both and pulled them right out of their... little dimension?

"S-sorry! Just h-had to change th-the light bulb. I never u-use this room." Alphys was in the middle of the room, reaching to the ceiling with a metal claw that she used to replace the light bulb.

Frisk blinked. The once dark room was now lit up brightly. She could see old posters on the walls, small bags on the floor...

...was the dark really that bad? She couldn't see a thing before now.

Alphys was just about to leave the room, but Frisk stopped her. "Hey Dr. Alphys?"

"Y-yes?"

"Are you the Royal Scientist?"

Alphys rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Y-yes I am. Though I haven't w-worked on anything in a while."

"Do you know what a phantom figure is?" Frisk asked. Alphys seemed shocked at her question.

"W-well, I haven't studied that topic m-much but... I do recall it being written here somewhere. Oh w-wait!" Alphys rushed out of the room and came back in with a tablet of some sort.

"I found this when I moved here. The old Royal Scientist talked about them in his entry logs... b-but I could only find this one."

She turned on the tablet and pressed a few buttons, which activated an audio log.

_**ENTRY LOG 8**_

_**I've identified the strange frequency coming from their SOUL. It seems that they've been entangled with another SOUL from someone who has been down here before. They seem to be trying to communicate with them from the afterlife... interesting.**_

_**I shall dub this phenomenon... a phantom figure.**_

Frisk gulped. That eerie voice was all too familiar. She took no time to make the connection between them and the voice in her head.

Wait a second... that's the old Royal Scientist? Papyrus said that his father was the Royal Scientist... this voice inside her head was their father?!

Alphys noticed that Frisk looked uncomfortable, and immediately put away her tablet.

"S-sorry." Alphys apologised. "That p-probably scared you. I'll just leave now." She quickly left the room before Frisk had a chance to stop her.

As if on cue, the flower from before emerged. He had a bit of dirt and stone on him.

"BLEH!" He spat, shaking all of the dirt off of him. "I HATE coming here."

"Hi Flowe-"

"What. EVER." Flowey snapped. He seemed very agitated. "I couldn't find that trashbag anywhere, so I decided to come back to you."

"How did you know I was here?" Frisk asked. Flowey plastered a fake smile on his face.

"Oh, don't worry. I've heard Sans' plan about a million times now, for when a human comes here." Flowey sang.

"You're a part of his plan?"

"No." Flowey blatantly responded, before smirking. "Though I could be the wrench in his plan..."

"There's a wrench in his plan?"

Flowey groaned loudly. "You're clueless." He insulted. Frisk didn't think anything of it.

Suddenly, Flowey started acting strange. "Tell me, human. What are you most determined to do? Determined to see?"

Frisk pondered for a minute what he was talking about. Then he continued. "I want you to close your eyes, and focus on how much you really want that thing. Think about it. Motivate yourself."

She did exactly as he told. Frisk closed her eyes, thought about something and concentrated on it for a few seconds. "Now open your eyes."

The room was now brightly lit up by a shining star in the middle of the room. That wasn't there before...

"Touch it." Flowey softly spoke, nudging her forward. "Let it take you. Feel the power."

She reached out and let a finger poke it. It trapped her in a blinding light. Time seemed to stop, as everything froze in place.

A big box appeared in front of her. Two things written on it.

"SAVE"

"RESET"

Frisk examined it carefully. This whole thing seemed surreal to her. Was she hallucinating? By second nature, she reached towards the SAVE option. It glowed ever-brighter and...

...she was back in the room. The star was now gone.

"So. How was it?" Something in Flowey's attitude started to shift. Frisk was left speechless by the whole thing.

No words were spoken. Just silence. Then... there was a rumble...

...and then a root impaled Frisk right where she stood.

Everything went black for a minute. In big bold letters, the words "GAME OVER" were shown... but were soaked in a colourless liquid.

"Please..." A sad voice called out. "Young one... help me..."

Everything went dark.

Then she was back in the room.

"Hahaha!" Flowey chuckled menacingly. "Do you understand now?"

All the wind was taken out of her. What happened? What was she supposed to say?

"You don't want to talk about it?" Flowey asked, a little disappointed. "Well, fine then. I'll let you figure it out on your own." He vanished into the ground again.

She felt like she had been in fifteen places at once. What just happened? Where did she go? What did this mean? Who was that person talking to her when those words were shown?

...why do all the strange voices only talk to her?!

* * *

_**To be continued...**_


End file.
